


that fated day

by animefun101



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Connie is left-handed, Cute Boys Doing Cute Things, F/F, F/M, Happy Ending, House Party, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Marco has a brother, Minor Character Death, Multi, POV Marco Bott, Past Relationship(s), Roommates, Teacher-Student Relationship, Underage Drinking, dropped until a later date, ereri, jeanmarco, main couple is jeanmarco, might have some angst and feels, minor characters are classed as the oc's (just to warn you), so many characters!!!, so many headcannons it's hard to keep track of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-17
Updated: 2016-04-15
Packaged: 2018-03-23 09:36:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 8
Words: 40,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3763210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/animefun101/pseuds/animefun101
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Marco Bodt is a new student to Trost College and he's able to make new friends fast and also friends from old times. He sees someone on his first day who catches his eyes. Who could this stranger be?</p><p>Go on nights out with Marco and his friends as the boy finds an old friend and maybe even more</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The first day

**Author's Note:**

> Hi this is my first story on this and even doing these ships which have somehow found a place to my heart I'll try and update as regularly as possible but if there hasn't been an update in a while then I'm probably stuck on work as my exams in college are soon. 
> 
> This is set in America but the drinking law will be set for England which means when you are 18 you can drink so certain people won't get told off ;)
> 
> I hope you enjoy this and I'll try my hardest in updating it for you. There maybe a few grammar and spelling mistakes in this but I'll try and make sure in future chapters that there won't be as many
> 
> Disclaimer - I don't own anything except the plot

My name is Marco Bodt and this is the story of how I came to meet the most amazing person in my life. This is the story of how I came to meet Jean Kristian. The best thing that has ever happened to me. The only way to tell this story is from the very beginning and that would be when I joined Trost College.

I yanked my guitar onto my bag and pulled out my skateboard from the boot with my green suitcase. I locked up my car then began to head off to my new dorm because I could get the other stuff later when I needed it. So much for an early start to college. I giggled as I turned around the corner and towards Sina dorms. I grabbed my skateboard from the floor and walked inside. 

I spoke to the lady at the desk. She had short curly hair and light coloured eyes. Her name was Hitch Boris. My brother knew the girls boyfriend, Marlo Sand, so I had seen Hitch before. She gave me a smile and gave me the keys to my dorm then I was off like a flash. I wonder who my roommate is. It’s so exciting that I can’t wait! I buzzed, adrenaline flowing through my veins as I unlocked the door to realise that my roommate hadn’t arrived yet. Well at least I get to choice what bed I’m picking. 

I walked through the mini kitchen and the lounge and into the room on the right. It was cosy but a bit small. The room had two simple beds with two wardrobes and two small desks so that my roommate and I could do our work. There was also another door which lead to a bathroom that my roommate and I would share that had a shower, toilet and sink. I dropped my suitcase by the bed on the left, closest to the door, dropped my guitar onto the bed and slid my skateboard under my new desk.

Soon I began to unpack from my suitcase and began placing my clothes into one of the wardrobes. Mostly they consisted of things that I needed on the short run so that I didn’t need to go back to my car for a bit to get the other bags of stuff out. I shoved my suitcase under my bed when I was done and picked up my guitar. I peeled off the black guitar case to reveal a shiny new red guitar that I had gotten from my birthday a three months ago and decided to tune it so that I wouldn’t get bored.

Before I started tuning my guitar, my new roommate came charging through the door. The boy with a dark complexion and a bald head. His bright hazel eyes, glowing with excitement. “There you are! I’m Connie Springer and I’ll be your roomie!” After a few beats, Connie’s eyes widened in surprise. “Hey Marco I didn’t know I was rooming with you.” Connie grinned.

“Neither did I.” I agreed while giving a silly smile myself, “I got my dorm too late so I got stuck here but at least I know someone here.” I put my guitar back in its case and set it down by my bed.

“Yeah so did I. I completely forgot about it until I almost missed the deadline and would have had to wait a whole year to come.”

“That would have sucked.” I giggled. Me and Connie had met in middle school and had been friends ever since.

“Can you help me with my stuff? I just left them in the lounge.”

“Yeah sure.” I beamed; glad to help a friend out. We went out of the room and I realised that there was another door on the opposite side that was exactly the same as mine and Connie’s new room. I grabbed a black rucksack and helped Connie set up his drum set. Connie had a weird way of placing it into our shared dorm as the boy was left handed so he had to have the drum kit the other way around.

Soon enough everything was put away and the bags were tucked under Connie’s bed which was by the window. He had a simple marvel comic book duvet and pillow covers that Connie had flung onto his bed and he was now sorting it out. “Marvel fan I see.” I smiled again.

“Yeah. Me and Sasha were going on about it in the holidays. Went to go see the new Spiderman movie. I loved it. Spiderman is defiantly my favourite character from Marvel.” Connie stated as we walked back into the lounge.

“Oh shoot before I forget, Connie can you help me out with my stuff too. They’re in my car.”

“Sure thing. You did help me out.”

“Thanks.” Now I don’t need to make as many stops at my car to get my stuff. I sighed in relief.

“Why don’t we do it now so it’s out of the way?”

“Yeah sure.” I smiled as we made our way out of our dorm room and I locked the door behind us. We ran down the hallway to the lift and jumped inside as soon as the lift arrived and the doors opened. I waved to Hitch and she opened the door for us and we ran to my car. It was a red Volkswagen. I unlocked the boot and Connie helped me getting the bags out of the car but suddenly realised the TV that was hidden by the bags.

“You are awesome.” Connie beamed as he picked up a few more bags until he couldn’t carry anymore. I rubbed the back of my neck and smiled sheepishly.

“I also brought my Wii.”

“Do you have 4 controllers?”

“Of course.” I chuckled. This is going to be such a great time here. “I’m defiantly going to beat you on just dance 57.”

“Bring it.” Connie grinned as he headed back to our shared dorm, “I’ll put these away. You guard the car.”

“Okay.” I laughed as I set down the stuff that I had been holding and leaned against my red car. I think I should have helped with Connie. He looked like he was going to crash into something because of how many bags he was carrying. I could feel myself smiling again as I imagined Connie walking with the bags into Sina dorms and Hitch giving the boy the strangest look.

Suddenly a male caught my attention. He had an undercut with two tones. The top tone was a murky blond and the bottom tone was a dark brown. He had a strong build be seemed to be shorted than me and he had sharp light brown eyes that appeared to be scowling down at a piece of paper in his hands. The male wore simple clothes that consisted of an untucked button up shirt with black trousers and a pair of trainers. I wonder who he is?

“Hey kid!” A voice called. It came from the man and I flinched back. Did he notice me staring at him? Oh no. What should I say? He seems really pissed off. I thought as he started walking towards me. “I don’t want to ask you this as much as you want to be here but I need your help. I need to get to Sina dorms to talk to one of the ladies at the front desk.”

“I know where that is.” I smile politely as I tried to shake off how nervous I was at that point. “I’ll show you when my friend comes back.” To this the male simply tusked and glared at something.

“I can’t wait around just tell me how to get there.”

“O-ok. It’s…” I explained how to get to Sina dorms and in return he gave me a nod and walked off just as Connie was coming back from his drop off.

“Who was that grumpy long face?” Connie asked me, “He needs something to chill out.”

After we get everything up and put away, I placed my duvet and 2 pillows onto my bed. My covers were nothing special. It was just a blue duvet cover with white pillow covers. I dropped my teddy onto the bed and sat back down. The TV was set up in the lounge with the Wii and a bunch of games that I had brought along. I’m sure my brother won’t mind. Connie had decided to add our names onto the door so that guests would know whose room was who.

We moved into the lounge and turned the TV on to watch something that I had recorded, game of thrones. I loved the show and it turned out that Connie did to. Check out my luck for the first day at college… besides that strange male who I just can’t get out of my head. I wonder what his name is and if I’ll meet him again sometime. I got comfy on one of the two grey sofas in the lounge part of the room.

Suddenly to door burst open and two boys stood outside it with a huge pile of rucksacks that were probably full of random things. One of the duo was a tall male with dark hair and the other male was a blond haired male with a strong build. It was Bertholdt and Reiner! “Hey Marco pal!” Reiner dropped the stuff that he had when he noticed me. I pushed a strand of black hair out of the way. “It’s been so long.” Reiner pulled me into a brief but strong hug.

“Yeah it has.” I agreed, “How are you and Bertholdt?” The tall male turned at the sound of his name and Connie went over to him to help carry the bags that Reiner had dropped and Bertholdt thanked the boy awkwardly.

“Oh we’ve been fine. Spent the holiday with Annie.” Reiner replied for Bertholdt.

“That’s cool. How is Annie? I think I saw her in town yesterday.” I asked curiously.

“She’s been fine.” Bertholdt inputted his thoughts across to me.

“I’m glad.” I beamed. Annie’s a really nice person once you get to know her. “I haven’t been able to talk to her for a while because I’ve been busy. Sorry.”

“No it’s fine.” Reiner chuckled, “Annie still remembers you so it’s fine.”

“Sorry to interrupt but can you help over here.” Connie interrupted. Him and Bertholdt seemed to be in a sea of bags that were finally all in the room. How did they even get up here with all of them? Sometimes I just can’t understand these two.

“Yeah sorry.” I apologised as I hurried over to the duo.

“Yeah sorry mate.” Reiner followed suit and we both helped pick up the bags and move them into the other room.

“Thanks.” Bertholdt smiled sheepishly. For a tall teenager, Bertholdt had always been the shy type.

“No problem.” Connie grinned.

“Any time.” I smiled as I picked up one of the pillows from Bertholdt’s bed and sat down. He had chosen the one on the right side and had plain white covers while Reiner had an army bed cover.

“Who’s up for a game of Fifa?” Reiner beamed.

“Okay.” Bertholdt smiled as he caught the PlayStation remote that Reiner had literally flung at him. Reiner had beaten him by a landslide with his strong defence and tough attacks. Connie played next and just beat him in extra time but when I played against Reiner, I managed to win in the penalty shoot outs even if I only just won by one point. I gave a sign of relief. That was a tough match and luckily I had played Fifa with my brother when we were younger so I had some experience under my belt or I would have lost.

“I was just going easy on you.” Reiner pouted, “Another match!”

“Okay.” I giggled, “You’re on.” Two more matches and a just won both of them. I gave a huff of delight but tried not to show off too much.

“You were lucky this time but next time I’ll defiantly win.” Reiner frowned as he dropped onto his bed and placed his head on Bertholdt’s leg.

“Can’t believe you beat him.” Connie beamed. “You’ve even lost to me.”

“What do you mean by ‘can’t believe.” I smiled a goofy smile, “I’ll have you know what I wasn’t even trying.” This caused Connie to laugh loudly.

“You’re actin like Eren.” Connie grinned.

“Eren Jaeger?” I asked.

“Yeah and it was a perfect impression too.” Connie nudged me and I gave him a smile in return as well as a light nudge back in his direction.

“We should get ready for the lessons tomorrow.” Bertholdt announced, breaking the silence that had just formed. This caused Reiner to groan loudly.

“We’ll get stupid teachers like at middle school.” Reiner moaned as he shifted his position on Bertholdt to get comfy.

“You never know.” I responded. We did have some rubbish teachers in the past like Miss Witty in my science who couldn’t teach us anything that came up on our exam. I just passed with a B and that was because I studied with Armin (my brother’s friend) outside of lesson because everyone talked. Reiner and Bertholdt thought, well it was only Reiner, it was a good idea to make out in class when the teacher went to go get something and this caused someone to yell at them to get a room. To this, Reiner had stuck his finger up at them. When they stopped Bertholdt looked like he was going to explode from who embarrassed he was and Reiner had the smuggest look on his face for the rest of the entire lesson. “I heard that they were getting new teachers coming this year.”

“But are they hot?” Connie pointed out, “Remember the time we all thought our new teachers at middle school were going to hot so we dared Eren to chat them up. Turns out that they were not young or hot and were in their 40’s.”

“He did except.” I pointed out. “Eren never says no to a bet. He seems too competitive to not say no.”

“Oh yeah!” Reiner chuckled loudly. “Almost tried to kill us after though. Mikasa had to hold him back and calm him down. Eren can be crazy at times.”

“They were a few years above us weren’t they?” I asked.

“Yeah. They should be in their 20’s by now.” Connie answered, “I’d laugh if they were the new teachers. Eren acted, as Levi put it, a brat all the way through school. Imagine him as a teacher now. It’s just weird.”

“Yeah but it would be cool.” Bertholdt glanced at Reiner then back to Connie, “How are things with you and Sasha?” This gained a wide grin from Connie.

“Great! We went to see a film in the holidays.” Connie began blabbering on about what he had already told me before about his holiday with the girl, who I believe, he has an undying love for.

“Why don’t you plan to meet up again? You could buy her a foot long sandwich from subway. I’m sure she’ll love you for that.” Reiner said as he got up to get his pyjamas.

“You’re absolutely right.” Connie grinned yet again and jumped up, “I’ll do that right now.”

“At 10pm? Wow that time already? Time has sure flown by. Luckily I had my tea on the way here. Are you sure she won’t get mad?” I asked worriedly.

“It’ll be fine. This is Sasha we’re talking about.” Connie dialled the girls number and slowly made his way for the door.

A while later, I was in my pyjamas sitting on Bertholdt’s bed with him while Reiner was fast asleep in his own bed. He had almost seemed to have dropped dead as soon as his head his pillow and was snoring loudly.

“It’s 11 now and Connie still isn’t back. How long does he talk to Sasha? They see each other every day.” I joked.

“I know right.” Bertholdt responded with a small smile, “You can tell they have a thing for one another.”

“Like you and Reiner?”

“Shhhh.” Bertholdt hissed as his eyes widened and a blush grow on his cheeks fearlessly. “He’ll hear you.”

“Sorry.” I apologised with a sheepish smile. Bertholdt gave a sigh of relief as Reiner was still out cold and snoring away. “Aren’t you too going out already? I mean you did make out when we went to school together.”

“No it’s fine and we do it’s just that… Nevermind.”

“Okay. You can tell me later on when you want to.”

“Thanks.”

“Hey guys guess who got a date on Sunday?” Connie burst in.

“You.” I giggled. “So the plan was a success.”

“Yeah. Much more than a success.” Connie grinned. The boy had changed into his blue pyjamas.

“I’m glad but it’s now 11:15. Aren’t you tired?” Bertholdt spoke up. “And we haven’t even got our bags ready for tomorrow.”

“Sorry. I just got carried away and I’m full of energy. Finally it’s a date and not a meet up.”

“Go to bed. I bet that energy will be gone in the morning.” I smiled as we headed towards the door, “Night you two.”

“Night.” Bertholdt replied and Connie repeated it to Bertholdt. I turned off the lights, closed the door and headed to my bed. I snuggled down in my soft duvets and let out a lazy “good night” to Connie as I felt the lights turn off and I drifted slowly into a deep sleep.

Mornings were the worst for I had to not be a morning person. This caused me to fall asleep twice this morning. “Sorry.” I apologised for the fifth time that morning as I had walked into Bertholdt for the third time. I headed to my shelf and got out some strawberry pop tarts, grabbed a plate and when they were ready, I sat down at the table and began to nibble at them.

Soon I was ready for class which happened to be English. This was one of the classes that I had which was going to get one of the rumoured new teachers. Connie was talking to Sasha and was sat next to me. They were chatting to each other noisily about the food here being great. Which I found would have to have been the first for cafeteria food to be seen as nice let alone great.

Ten minutes after the class was supposed to begin, a teacher came into the classroom. No way! I couldn’t believe my eyes. Is that Jean? The male was now wearing an untucked button up shirt with a green tie, black jeans and trainers. In his hands were some paperwork and a big Starbucks coffee cup. He set the possessions that he had been holding down on the desk and headed to the chalk board to write English Language 501 and his name which of course, was ‘Jean Kirstein’.

“I’m Jean Kirstein. I’m going to be your English teacher from now on. You can call me Jean but don’t call me sir as that it annoying.”

I felt a smile grow on my face and my eyes widen. I can’t believe that the person that I had met before was the Jean! I’m so happy. Now I can get to talk to him more. Jean and I knew each other from when we were kids but I had to move because of my parents work when we were going into middle school so we kept in touch through Facebook. We would talk to each other from time to time but we don’t do it as much as we did back then. Now I’ve found him again and I can become friends with him again. It’s just on how he’ll react when he notices that it’s me.


	2. The next day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The new chapter is out!! I finished this faster than I expected. There are a few things that I need to explain:  
> 1) I only own the plot and nothing else  
> 2) Ymir is Marco's mum in this Au (even if it isn't shown in the tags)

The lesson was half way through and I had realized, after I had finished my work, that Jean had just given us all a sheet with what the semester would bring to us and told us to answer the questions on the back. Sasha and Connie had made some origami swords by ripping their paper up in two pieces and folding them. Now they were having a sword fight with them. Jean was sipping at the Starbucks coffee and was busy doing something on his computer. He sure turned out to be a great teacher. I thought sarcastically as I rolled my eyes. 

“Sir, I’ve finished the questions.” One of the people at the back of the class spoke up. Jean tusked and almost seemed to glare at the student for distracting him from what he was doing.

“My name’s Jean not sir. I told you at the start of the class.” Jean replied but didn’t say anything about what the student should do next and went on with his work. I gave a sign of disbelief. I can’t believe that Jean could be such a… asshole. “And Marco Bodt, I need to speak to you after class.”

“Okay.” I replied and I could feel myself dreading what he wanted. I frowned a bit. I hadn’t done anything wrong had I? I have done my work. Maybe it isn’t that bad I reassured myself as I waited for the class to end. 

After an eternity of waiting, the lesson finally ended. Connie turned to face me with a sly grin on his face while Sasha was already biting into a potato sandwich that was apparently her leftovers from last night’s tea. “Good luck.” Connie said as he stuffed his belonging in his bag while I sorted everything out before gently placing into my backpack then throwing it on my back with ease.

“Thanks.” I gave a light smile as I made my way over to the desk. I really wanted to talk to Jean again but now I’m slowly starting to rethink my thoughts. He’s changed so much. No longer is he a chubby boy with an obsession for rice omelet but now Jean is a tall male (even if he’s still shorter than me) with a slim figure. “You wanted to talk to me Jean.”

“Yeah… I just wanted you to answer this question.” Jean finished typing on his computer and turned to face me. It seemed like he was glaring at me which made me feel comftable.

“Do you know someone called James Smith?”

“Yeah he’s my brother.” I replied to Jean. Why was he asking me this question?

“Well I need you to give him this letter.” Jean handed me the letter and realized that I was super confused. “Just do it and you don’t need to know why okay. You can leave now.” Jean glared at me. It seemed like he didn’t remember me.

“Okay Jean.” I hold back a sigh before it escapes but before I leave the classroom, a hand grabs my arm.

“Do I recognize you from somewhere?” Jean asked. I could feel my eyes widen in surprise but I hold back a grin that was pushing its way to be revealed.

“You asked for directions to get to Sina dorms.” I said. Jean scowled slightly as he looked me up and down. I could feel my neck getting hot as I began to fidget under his cold stare.

“I know that but I mean before that… never mind, it doesn’t matter. Just go and take that letter to your brother when you can.” After that he went straight back to work. I nodded my head and left the room. Due to the fact that I had spent too long in the classroom, I had to run to my next class before I was late. I just made it with 5 minutes to spare so I stood outside for a bit so that I could catch my breath then walked in. I took my spot at the front of the class, got my stuff ready and placed my bag under the table. I looked at the board and it read my lesson, math, and the teacher’s name. My eyes widened in surprise because on the board was Armin’s name. So he became a teacher too.

Armin walked into the classroom with an armful of paperwork. I got up and headed towards him. “Hi Armin. It’s been a long time.” Armin turned to face me and it looked like he almost dropped the work. The blond gave a huge beam.

“It has. How have you been?”

“I’ve been good.”

“Heard James moved in with you and your mom.”

“Yeah. It was the easiest thing to do as dad was moving into the college that he works at.”

“Well tell him I said hi.” Armin placed the files on the desk neatly and turned to face me. “It is kind of nerve-racking to be a teacher.” Armin told me honestly. 

“I’m sure you’ll be fine.” I reassured him.

“Yeah I’m sure I will thanks.” Armin nodded his head in thought, “I’ll put these away and I think I’ll be sorted.” I sat buck down after I gave a smile to show him that I was still listening but the last part seemed to be to himself.

Soon the classroom was full and a sweet girl with short blonde hair and big blue eyes came up beside me. “Is it okay if I sit here?” She asked me sweetly. I nodded my head and the girl thanked me. “I’m Krista Lenz. It’s nice to meet you.” The girl smiled at me.

“I’m Marco. Marco Bodt. It’s nice to meet you too.” I replied, sending a smiled her way in response to the one she gave to me.

The lesson started and Armin got someone to hand out the books to the class that would be shared between two people. He talked us through page 58 and instructed us to answer the questions. Something about this lesson was different to Jean’s lesson. You could tell that Armin was trying his hardest with the class and helping anyone who needed it while Jean just told us to read from the textbook and answer the questions with no help given to us. Although the teaching was better here, I couldn’t help but miss being in Jean’s classroom and being able to watch him as he concentrated on what he was doing with a scowl on his face.

Soon enough the lesson finished for lunch, I placed my belongings in my bag and headed to Armin as he wiped the board clean. “Hey Armin when are you free?”

“I think I’m free now. I’ll have a look at my timetable.” Armin pulled out his timetable from his black bag and glanced at it, placed it back and turned to me. “Yeah I’m done for the day.”

“Do you want to grab a bite at Starbucks and catch up?” I asked.

“Yeah sure.” The blond beamed as he picked up his bag and we headed out of the classroom and towards our destination.

When we got there, Armin bought a caramel macchiato while I got a hot chocolate. We picked one of the tables that was close to the windows. We talked about how my family was doing and about how Armin decided to be a teacher. It had turned out that Eren and Mikasa were here too. Eren had become a German teacher while Mikasa was at the front desk in Maria dorms. “I should say hi sometime to her.” I joked.

“You should.” Armin smiled, “She came because Eren was coming here and you know how attached those two are these days.”

“Yeah. The girl wouldn’t leave his side at school.” We gave a laugh as we remembered old times, “You’re so young and you’re a teacher too.”

“Well I had the grades to skip a year and with lots of studying and no sleep, Eren did too but barely. At one point I thought that he wasn’t going to be able to do it but he pulled up his socks and look where it got him.”

“Yeah I’m glad for him.” I took a sip from my cup and smiled. We talked about random stuff and what was going to happen in class for the semester and then we went our separate ways. I unlocked the door to my dorm and closed it behind me. I called for a pizza and sat on the sofa as I waited for it. I couldn’t believe how tired I was and I felt like I was going to pass out but before I could nod off, the pizza man was here. 

After unlocking the door, I walked down the stairs to pick it up and saw Jean talking to Hitch. I quickly get my pizza and try not to create and attention to myself but unfortunately as I was going towards the lift, my fell over my shoelace and came crashing down onto the floor. So much for not getting noticed. I picked myself up and turned to realize that Jean was now staring at me. This is so embarrassing! I grabbed the pizza and scurried to the lift. When the door’s opened for the lift, I jumped in and pressed the button to the 4th floor, where my dorm room was, quickly. I sat down on the floor as I tried to tame my racing heart and the blush of embarrassment that had risen from the fall.

Somehow my pizza was fine but when the door did open, I didn’t get up as I was too busy staring at the ground while trying to get rid of my embarrassment. When I did notice the door was open, it was closing and I came crashing into the closed door. Today was defiantly not my day. The lift had gone to the ground floor and the person who had called it down was Connie. He had apparently finished for the day. “Hey man. What are you doing now?”

“I’m going back to the dorm with my pizza. You can have some if you want.”

“You bet I do.” Connie grinned as the lift closed for the second time to go to floor 4. We sat on the sofa in the dorm and didn’t need to unlock the door as I had forgotten to lock it behind me. I decided not to tell him about my embarrassing time just a few moments ago and we dug into the pizza while watching a film that I let Connie pick.

After the film, we had a go on just dance 57 and played on some of the songs on it. Halfway through the 5th song, Reiner and Bertholdt came back. “Can we join too?” Reiner grinned. Connie passed him and Bertholdt a remote each and we decided to do last one standing. Reiner won but Connie justified that it was because me and him had done 5 songs before they came. Reiner just gave a chuckle and wrapped his arm around Bertholdt. I decided to change into my pajamas as it was ten already. Connie decided to watch another film with the others as I went to my bedroom that I shared with him.

I got changed and decided to text my brother about the letter that I had gotten from Jean.

'Hi. I got a letter from Jean Kirstein that he wanted me to give to you.'

I pressed send and soon after a reply came.

'I’m home now so u can come when u can. Mum wants you to call her.'

I sent a quick reply and dialed my mums mobile and she answered on the second ring.

“Hello?” I heard her voice on the other line.

“Hi mum.” I said.

“How’s my baby doing?”

“I’m fine.” I smiled.

“You better be.” She joked, “Heard you saw Jean.”

“Yeah and Armin too.”

“That’s surprising.” I heard my mum burst into a fit of laughter, “How was today.”

“It was okay.”

“How come?” My mum asked. I could tell she had risen an eyebrow and was wearing a smug look on her face. I told her what had happened today, as well as falling in front of Hitch and Jean, and he burst into laughter for the second time. “Sounds like you had fun.”

“It was embarrassing as hell.”

We spoke for a while and after I hung up and promised to call her sometime later. I pulled my bedsheets over me and closed my eyes as I thought about tomorrow as I would have biology and drama that day and also that I would have to deal with seeing Jean again. This sucks.

When I woke up, Connie was sound asleep in his bed. I got up, took a quick shower to wake myself up and brushed my teeth. After getting dry, I slipped on my clothes which consisted on a simple white shirt, jeans and a pair of spotty socks. I went into the kitchen and got the pop tarts from my shelf as I gave a yawn and ran a hand through my hair.

After I finished my pop tarts, I grabbed my bag and took my keys to unlock the door. I unlocked it behind me and headed to my first lesson, biology. When I got there, I was the first one there. This time I chose a seat near the back. Connie was the last person here and decided to sit next to me. The teacher wrote their name on the board was well as the subject. “Hi my name is Zoe Hanji. You shouldn’t call me mam or sir or I’ll be cross with you. Call me Hanji.” She pointed to a man who was sitting in the chairs near the door. “My assistant over there is Moblit Bernard. If you need any help he’s here and if you can’t find me then you can find Moblit in the staff room. The people who you are sitting next to will be your partners for the rest of the semester. Any questions before we start?” No one put their hand up. “Alright Moblit please can you hand out the books. I want you to turn to page 158 and we’ll go over it together.”

Hanji explained everything with the excitement of a kid who had just gotten the toy they had always wanted. It stated to have an effect on me as the lesson went on. I took notes in my notebook neatly.

The lesson came to an end and Connie and I decided to go meet Sasha as she had probably finished her lesson so that we could walk down to the drama room together. We had two teachers for drama. One was called Isabel Magnolia. She wore her red hear in two ponytails that hung low on her shoulders and he had bright green eyes. She wore a simple button shirt with a vest, trousers and trainers. The other drama teacher was called Furlan Church and he had grey eyes and really pale brown hair. His bangs hung over his forehead, between his eyes. Furlan wore a simple long-sleeved white shirt, trousers and trainers.

After some ice breaker activities, we did some group work. I chose to work with Connie and Sasha. Reiner and Bertholdt were grouped with a girl called Petra. The activities were acting out some scenarios and watching the other groups act theirs out.

After the lesson ended, we went to the canteen to get something to eat. We sat at one of the big tables and ate the food we had bought. I had decided to just get some pasta and cheese and it was obvious who bought the most. Sasha was wolfing down the first bag of crisps that she had brought. I hoped that this break would last much longer than it does so that I wouldn’t need to face Jean as soon as I would.

I picked up my bags and walked with Sasha and Connie to English. We talked about what we could do after college. Sasha decided to pop around to challenge Connie to a game of Mario kart. We entered the classroom and took our spots. I gave a deep breath in and got out my stuff for this lesson from my bag. This time Jean had decided to talk us through a simple looking PowerPoint on writing ways and then told us to answer some questions. This time no one asked anything when they had done as we knew what the response would be. It had seemed like he had forgotten about the incident in the dorms and I was grateful for that.

After the lesson, Jean stopped me again and I started to dread that my thought in the lesson was false.

After a few weeks went by, I started to get used to my timetable. Jean had stopped talking to me after the lesson finished and I was talking to Armin and my mum a lot of the time. He had introduced me to Eren again before I went to my dorm. Eren seemed like a nice guy.

I called my mum to tell her that I was going to come over today and picked up the letter that I had put on my desk. She was thrilled for me to come and luckily the drive wasn’t a long one so I managed to get there in about two hours.

I parked my car into the drive and spotted my mum at the door. She had golden eyes, her dark brown hair was tied back. And she was covered in freckles, like me. “Welcome back.” She said.

“I’m home.” I replied as I got out my car with the letter and locked the car. She gave me a strong hug when I reached her and we went inside.

“I made you something to eat.”

“Thanks.” I walked into the kitchen and took a plate that had a ham and cheese sandwich which had been cut in half and a bag of crisps. I went to the table and placed the crisps into the sandwich then ate it. “This is really good.”

“Because it’s from the best.” My mum winked and joined me at the table. “Your brother is upstairs in the computer room.”

“Okay.” I finished my food, washed the plate and went upstairs with the letter in my pocket. As my mum had said, my brother was in the computer room and was busy doing his work. “Hi James.” I said as I entered the small room. The only thing in it was a desk with a computer on it and a chair.

“Hey bro. I haven’t heard from you in ages. How’ve you been?”

“I’ve been fine.” I smiled, “I’ve got the letter.” I handed the letter to James. My curiosity was bubbling as he opened it.

“Tah.” He smiled and turned to faced me after he had finished looking at it. “You want to know what this is don’t you. I can see it in your eyes.” James chuckled. “It’s just some money that he owed me and a present for my birthday last week. And what did you get me?” He smirked.

“I bought you that new jumper from new look which cleaned out my savings.” I pouted, “I sent it to you through the post.

“I know I’m just messing. You can come with me to the concert. I’ve got two tickets.”

“You should go with Jean.”

“Are you sure? I know how much you love this band. You used to hum along to their songs while you did your work. And Jean has a ticket of his own.”

“Okay.” I give in.

“Then it’s sorted.” James grinned, “It’s on in December so you can make it.”

“Alright.” I beamed.

We talked about random stuff until mum came up from downstairs to get us for tea. We were having stew today.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter and make sure to comment what you think will happen in the next chapter and if you enjoyed this chapter :) see you next time


	3. Party time!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really enjoying writing this :D  
> Thanks for the comments in the first chapter I'm glad you like reading this and thank you for the kudos that you've given there are a few things that I should explain  
> 1) of course I don't own anything but the plot  
> 2) Ymir is Marco's mum because I saw an Au on Tumblr and I really liked it so I wanted to use it  
> 3) Levi and Eren are already an open couple while I want to progress the relationship of Jean and Marco slowly as I love writing about the concerns they have if the other likes them or not :)  
> Hope you enjoy reading this chapter and tell me what you think in the comments and I'll try and update as soon as possible

James took a spoonful of the stew and ate it quickly. “Is it okay if I can throw a party for Halloween here? And before you ask, you can stay.” James rolled his eyes, “I know how much you want to party with us. Marco you can invite your friends if you want.” My brother turned to face me. I thought about it for a bit then decided that it might be a good idea to have a break from work for a bit as I was ahead of the class at the moment and with the mini sessions Armin was giving me, it didn’t look like that was going to change.

“Okay. I’ll take you on that offer.” I giggled.

“Sweet.” James grinned and at that point I began to regret my decision. “Ymir, I can buy the alcohol if you want. I’m getting my pay soon.”

“No way you have the worst taste in alcohol and we’re are buying the strong stuff or are you weak?” My mum smirked as my James frowned. He flicked some sandy blond hair out of his blue eyes.

“You’re on. I bet you’ll be out of it before me.”

“Sweetie, you are challenging the drink master.” My mum gave a look full of pride. James pouted at the nickname that mum had decided to call him.

After I had finished my stew, it was time for me to head back or I would get back super late. I waved bye to mum and promised to call soon then got into my car and drove back to Trost College.

I finally reached college with an empty flask of coffee as I had almost fallen asleep at the wheal but the problem was that I was no wide awake. I locked up my car and threw the cup into a big nearby. I gave a silent cheer as it went in. I made my way into Sina dorms and gave a wave to Hitch and she waved back. A party for Halloween and a ticket to go to a concert. I was pumped and excited for them. I had decided to invite Connie, Sasha, Reiner, Bertholdt and Krista. I had gotten to know the blond more and talked to her a lot in the lessons I had with her. I found out why Reiner called her a goddess. She was so sweet in lesson and let me borrow a pen when I had forgotten one and taken notes for me when I missed a lesson because I was sick.

When the lift came, I walked forward with my head full of thoughts on how I was going to invite everyone and walked straight into someone. I looked up and realised that it was a very pissed off Jean. I backed off with a flash. “S-sorry.” I stuttered. It wasn’t that I was scared off the man it was just that it was a habit of mine that my mum always moaned about. Jean turned to face me and glared at me. He seemed like he was in deep thought.

“It’s fine.” He muttered then walked off. I stood in surprise and turned to watch as he disappeared from sight. I entered the lift and went to my dorm room, unlocked the door and locked it behind myself. I changed into my pyjamas, brushed my teeth and clambered into bed. I’ll ask everyone tomorrow about the party. I smiled as I fell asleep.

I told everyone about the party and they all could make it. The party was on Halloween and Connie and Sasha were dressing up as a pair. I let Reiner invite Annie and my and Krista had decided to go all out with what we were going to do. She wanted us to go as fallen angels which I found sounded amazing. She was doing art as one of her choices and all her work that she had shown me looked great. We had decided to have white robes and small wings with a pair of golden gladiator sandals which we needed to go and buy in town. We went into town when we both had a free to buy the stuff we needed.

“I bet we’re going to look the best.” I smiled to her as we sat on the train.

“Yeah.” She giggled, “I can’t wait. Thanks for inviting me.”

“It’s fine. It’s my brother’s party but he let me bring some of my friends.” I told her honestly. Krista was one of those people that you couldn’t lie to even if you tried. She gave a smile and I smiled back.

“I’m glad you chose me to come.”

“It’s fine. I’m glad you could come.”

We got off at our stop and parted ways to go to our dorms. Krista had promised to meet me outside my dorm the day of the party. I had asked her if she could help me sort things out before the party started and she gratefully agreed to help.

The day of the party came quick and soon it was time. I met up with Krista and dropped her off at my house so that I could pick up the others. When I had come back with the others, everything was ready. I ran up to my old room and got ready in my outfit. The wings had to be put on first and then the robe needed to be carefully placed on after so that it gave the affect that the wings were real. I slid on the sandals and looked at myself in the mirror. I looked amazing and Krista had done a great job on everything. I should thank her with something.

 

Connie and Sasha had decided to go as a witch and wizard while Reiner and Bertholdt had decided to be vampires to the party. They looked really cool.

Everyone was sitting in the kitchen as James, who was dressed up as a zombie, decided to tell them a story about our childhood. You could tell that he was already a bit tipsy and the party hadn’t even started. Mum had gone to buy some more alcohol at the shop nearby. She came back with Smirnoff vodka, premixed cocktails, beers and fizzy drinks. She placed it onto the table and as soon as her eyes landed on Krista, she grabbed me and dragged me out of the room and into the lounge. “So who is that beautiful angel?” My mum asked me. It seemed like she had made a quick liking to Krista.

“That’s Krista Lenz.”

“A beautiful name for a beautiful girl.”

“Mum.” I rose an eyebrow at her.

“What?”

“Never mind.” I rolled my eyes and opened the door to let some people into the house. James had turned to music on to full blast and soon everyone had a cup in their hands. I was at in the lounge and was sipping at my vodka and coke in a plastic cup. Connie and Sasha were downing shot after shot in the kitchen, Reiner and Bertholdt were outside and my mum seemed that it was okay to chat Krista up. I sighed out loudly and downed the rest of the drink. I might have drank that too fast because I started to feel the effects of the drink already.

I got up off my seat and when I walked into the hallway I came crashing into someone. “Sorry.” I mumbled as I grabbed hold of them so that I wouldn’t fall over.

“We sure do have the tendencies in bumping into one another.” The voice said gruffly. I looked up at the male who had dressed up as a vampire and realised that I was clinging to my English teacher, Jean. I quickly let go of him and apologised. He scratched the back of his head. “You don’t need to say sorry. Thanks for giving the letter to your bro.”

“It’s fine.” I smiled to him and realised that we had walked into the kitchen were Connie and Sasha were. It was obvious that they were pissed. I refilled my cup with vodka and coke and downed it on the spot then made a face that looked like I had just smelt the foulest thing. Jean laughed at my state.

“I’m guessing this is the first time you’ve been to a party.”

“Third.” I corrected him as I put my glass down but before I could say anymore, Sasha pounced on me.

“Come take shots with me.” She grinned. She had a grin plastered on her face and pulled me to the table before I could say no and handed me a small plastic cup that was full of a red liquid which could only be described as cherry vodka. “3…2…1” We shot back the drink and at this point I was defiantly drunk. Everything was tingling and I almost collapsed on the floor. I wondered out of the room when Sasha had turned her back and Jean smiled at me. I smiled back. He seemed nicer than at college. Maybe he was stressed out at college.

“Do you want anything?” He asked me nicely. I thought for a moment. What did I want? I turned to face Jean and the thought of kissing him suddenly came to mind. At this thought I felt my entire face go hotter.

“Umm, can I have another vodka and coke?” I asked.

“Okay. I’ll go get one. You can wait in the lounge.” Jean walked back into the crowd of people as I watched him leave. I’ve got to get my head on properly. This is my English teacher and he’s only talked to you for a few moments outside of class and you shouldn’t be thinking these things about him. Even if he’s hot and you can’t stop watching him. Even if there might be a crush and nothing more. I don’t know this guy and he doesn’t know me so why do I want to kiss him so bad? I shook my head as I dropped onto the sofa and took a deep breath in. Marco Bodt you are walking on thin ice here. If you kiss this man you will be in so much trouble.

Jean came into the lounge as I sat up and handed me my drink. “Here you go.” He said.

“Thanks.” I smiled as I took the glass out of his hands.

“Didn’t think that I would bump into you here.” Jean broke the silence.

“Me either.” I’m glad that I did. I gulped my drink so that I couldn’t say it.

“I’ve seen you around Sina dorms a lot. How come?”

“Well that’s my dorm.”

“So you got in too late.”

“Yeah. I almost had to wait a year.”

“That would have sucked.”

“Yeah.” I sighed as I glanced at Jean. He was looking at me and even if he didn’t smile, he wasn’t scowling anymore. “How’s it like being a teacher?”

“Shit.” Jean gave an instant answer as he glared at nothing in particular. “But I do get to see some of my friends there so it’s not that bad.” He had only known me for a while and was already opening up to me. Even if we had met before when we were little, I felt like I was learning new things about Jean that I wouldn’t have known then in the short span of tonight.

A couple hours later, Jean and I had done some more shots and Krista and my mum were passed out in her room. I couldn’t stop falling over Jean and for the first time, I heard him laugh. It was like a beautiful melody to my ears. “So ummmm.” Jean fidgeted as he tried to find the right words to say, “How old are you?”

“I’m 18. How could you forget that? It’s in my personal information on the computer at college.”

“Well I don’t pay much attention to that.” Jean huffed.

“How old are you?”

“21. I’ll be 22 in April.” Jean stated. My eyes widened in surprise. I thought he was young but not that young. “Long story short was that I spent 3 years at university and was asked to come here. Seems like university thought that I was too smart to stay for another year.”

“That’s cool.” I smiled at Jean. Maybe I could… No. No you can’t think of that right now. You are drunk and if you think of that then you will probably do something stupid, I told myself.

Suddenly the door opened and Armin, Eren, Sasha, Connie, Reiner, Bertholdt and a boy called Levi, who Eren brought along, came in. “Do you guys want to play 21?” Armin asked polity. I shared a glance with Jean then nodded my head quickly.

“Yeah. Why not.” Jean replied as we all sat in a circle. Sasha had brought some shots and had placed them on the small table that was nearby. 

“The rules are quite simple.” She slurred, “You need to count up to 21 and the person who says 21 has to take a shot. You can only say up to three numbers. If you say 21 three times then you are out. To spice things up the last two people don’t play the last bit of 21 but they play seven minutes in heaven.” I nodded my head to show that I had gotten it and Connie decided to start first.

“1,2,3.” Connie said cheerfully.

“4,5.” Sasha yelled giddily.

“6,7,8.” Eren announced strongly.

“9.” Levi, the boy I recognised from Biology, said.

“10.” Mikasa stated calmly.

“11.” Armin mumbled.

“12,13,14” Jean said as he slouched.

“15,16” I said as it went onto my turn and then it went back around with us saying numbers until someone got 21.

“18,19,20” Sasha grinned as she turned to face Eren.

“21.” Eren as he grabbed a glass and gulped it down. “There.” The boy grinned proudly and we started again. After a few turns Eren was the first person out and was now leaning on Levi. Mikasa was the second person out and then it was Sasha.

“Aww I can’t believe I got out already.” The girl moaned. Connie gave a grin. The next person who got out was Armin then Levi. He glared at Levi but let the boy hold his hand.

“20.” I said and turned to Connie as he took his shot after saying the last number. He turned and smirked at me. Wait… oh no. I could feel myself blush and the back of my neck getting warm. I had to do seven minutes in heaven with my English teacher. What a great way to get to know someone.

“Right you know what’s next.” Sasha giggled as she helped me up. “Seven minutes in heaven!” James ran into the room just at that moment.

“Did you say that someone was doing seven minutes in heaven?”

“Yeah. That’s Marco and Jean.” Connie chuckled. I set an apologetic look to Jean but it seemed like he didn’t notice. My brother burst into laughter.

“Well that’s going to be funny.” Jean glared at him but got up.

“Fine let’s get this over with.” He scowled at my brother but James just laughed even more.

“Luckily the small room under the stairs is ready for this. I knew someone was going to play that game but I didn’t know who. Can’t believe that it would be my own brother.” He wiped his tears from his eyes and I felt like I was doing the walk of shame to the room that was no empty. I turned on the light and went inside. “Don’t try anything silly.” James winked. He closed the door when Jean was inside. I gave a deep sigh. Sometimes my brother could be so embarrassing.

“Sorry.” I mumbled.

“No it’s fine. At least I’m in here with you and not Eren.”

“How come?” I asked curiously but tried not to make it sound like I was prying. I may have been drunk but I wasn’t so drunk that I could think about what I would do.

“We’re just on thin ice. I hate his guts but we’re trying to be nice so that we don’t annoy Mikasa and for Armin’s sake too. We had a fight in the past which broke our friendship.” It looked like Jean didn’t want to say anymore so I didn’t pry anymore then I had done.

“This is funny. I mean I never thought that I would be playing seven minutes in heaven with my teacher.”

“Neither did I but here we are.” 

“Yeah that’s true.” I giggled and shuffled to get comfy. The drink was defiantly effecting me more than I expected when I got up I came crashing back down and right onto Jean. “S-sorry.” I stuttered as I got back up. I felt boiling and decided to slowly sit next to Jean and keep my eyes on the floor.

“It’s fine.” Jean mumbled and turned to face me, “This is stupid.”

“What?”

“This game. It’s stupid. I don’t see the point in it.”

“Yeah me too.” I agreed as I could feel myself calming down. I turned to face Jean and we were locked in each other’s eyes. I found his intense brown eyes to be surprisingly hard to pull away from.

“Oh my God, finally someone understands me. I mean what are you even supposed to do in here? Just talk? You could do that anywhere. I mean it sounds silly to be bickering about a silly game but I do find it stupid.”

“Yeah I mean who came up with the game in the first place? I know if you have a couple doing the seven minutes in heaven then they might do something other than talking but I just find it unfair for the people who need to tell them when the times up and that the couples being selfish because someone might be listening.” I said my opinion. Jean’s eyes were shinning in complete agreement to me.

“I thought I was the only one who thought that. I have stupid friends who love games like this.”

“Me too. I could see the dread in Sasha’s eyes as she said 21. It looked like she wanted to be her with Connie in here instead of us too.”

“To be fair I wouldn’t have minded. What are you supposed to even do in seven minutes? I mean sex wouldn’t be that quick.” Jean shrugged. I giggled at Jeans response.

“That’s true. I feel sorry for the person who has to come to the door when the time runs out.”

“Yeah me too. I’m glad I never had to do that when someone is playing it.” Jean smiled for the first time and I immediately made the decision that I loved seeing it and wanted to see it more often. “I’m glad that I stuck playing this with you.”

“Same.” I smiled. When the game was over, we decided to exchange mobile numbers and talked about random stuff like what we did in our free time and the perks of being a teacher. Until I was called by Sasha and Connie.

“Soooo how was it?” Sasha grinned.

“How was what?” I rose an eyebrow and gave a smirk to elaborate my point.

“You know… the seven minutes in heaven.”

“Nothing happened.” I announced and watched as Sasha seemed to be a little bit disappointed. “Did you want something to?”

“Yeah.” She said straight away. I would have been shocked but this is Sasha we are talking about so I was able to shrug the answer off without much effort. “I could see the way you were looking at him.” Sash suddenly said and this shook me. I could tell that I was blushing strongly and my stomach felt funny. “You look cute when you blush.” She giggled.

“Don’t listen to her man. You know how much she drinks at parties.” All I could do was nod my head as I couldn’t get any words out. 

When I could finally say something, I told them I was going to the kitchen. It was late and some people who had come had gone home already so the hallway was less crowded and no one was in the kitchen. I poured myself I drink, unaware of my limit, and downed the nasty tasting liquid. I dropped my head on the cool counter so I could cool off. Was I really looking at Jean strangely enough for a drunk Sasha to notice? What if Jean had noticed to and was creeped out by it? What if he’ll never talk to me again? I kept going down a downward spiral until I realised that I wasn’t alone in the kitchen. Jean was getting himself a beer from the fridge and turned to face me, our eyes meeting. I quickly looked away and tried to look at anything that wasn’t Jean. He sat down on one of the chairs and I smiled at him.

“How come you’re out here and not in there with the others?”

“Just wanted a bit of air.” I admitted. I was thinking of pouring myself another glass of sours but I decided against it and got myself a glass of water instead.

“Me too. Is it okay if I stay here with you?”

“Yeah it’s fine.” I smiled at him. We talked to each other for a while until everything went black and I woke up in my bed.

I burrowed further into my bed and then realised that there was someone else in the bed. Luckily the wings were off so they were fine and I was still wearing my robe but the guy sleeping in the bed with me was none other the Jean. At that point I quickly jumped out of my bed but came crashing down onto the floor. I remember having one more shot with Jean in the kitchen but after that I don’t remember anything! This is the first time I’ve ever gotten this drunk, my heads throbbing and I feel like I’m going to be sick. Thank God today wasn’t a college day. I walked downstairs to get a drink and my friends had crashed here for the night. Levi and Eren had left earlier the night and Mikasa didn’t get drunk so I knew she went back with Armin. I strolled into the kitchen and saw my mum and Krista were laughing about something. They sure have gotten close even if they just met each other.

“Good morning.” They both said.

“Morning.” I replied as I got a glass of water and started to seep at it.

“Look who’s got a hangover.” My mum smirked.

“You went to bed early.” I muttered.

“Only because I didn’t want to part from my angel.” Mum responded. I rolled my eyes and went back to my room. Jean was still fast asleep. I grabbed some clothes from my wardrobe and quickly got changed, washed my face then brushed my teeth. I looked awful. My hair was all over the place and I just wanted to throw myself into a pit.

After I was finally looking okay, I left the bathroom and decided to get something to eat for breakfast. My mum gave me some pop tarts and I went into the messy dining room that needed to be cleaned immediately but I was in no mood to be doing anything but eating these delicious strawberry pop tarts.

Jean came downstairs and greeted me with a wave and I smiled back. His bedhead was wild but he looked great with it. He sat down next to me. “You look like shit.” He joked.

“I feel it.” I mumbled as I nibbled at one of the pop tarts.

“Can I have one?”

“Sure.” I replied. I let Jean pick one up and he quickly ate it with a few bites.

“Thanks. You’re a life saver because I was starving.”

“You can have another one if you want.” I offered even though I wish I never said that as these were my favourite kind of pop tarts.

“Thanks but I shouldn’t. I can tell by the looks of things that these are your favourite type of pop tarts.”

“Yeah.” I admitted. “But I don’t mind.”

“Well if you say so.” Jean reached for another and wolfed it down. “Thanks.” He gave a small smile then walked out of the room.

Crap, I think I have a crush on my English teacher!


	4. coming over

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are a few thing I want to explain for this chapter and for the future  
> 1) I don't know much about the American college setting because I'm English and seem to have a different system here so exams for this will be in May (like mine DX) (I did do my research but I'm not sure if it's right so please tell me if I've done something wrong because I'll try and change it somehow when I've completed this)  
> 2) Since I'm from England the currency will be pounds and pennies :D  
> 3) this college is strange as it allows the relationship of teachers and students but the teachers HAVE to be under 30 or the relationship isn't allowed  
> 4) I still don't own anything but the plot
> 
> I think that's all the explanation I need so far XD If you have anymore questions then you can comment or ask me on my tumblr: http://charlscampcsc1.tumblr.com/
> 
> Thanks for the comments and kudos I'm really glad that you're enjoying this now on with the chapter XD

A few weeks after the party, I was sitting in Jeans classroom and I couldn’t concentrate at all. Jean and I had been meeting up from time to time and I’ve gotten to know quite a bit about him and the fact that he could make the best food to eat but I was also hit by the fact that he still hadn’t remembered when we were little. I’ve started to think that I haven’t met the person I just to play with when I was little. I wouldn’t blame anyone because of this I mean people move away and I can’t do anything about that but I was so sure.’ I gave a huff of annoyance, ‘It’s just I made a stupid assumption of it being Jean and it probably isn’t. I mean even if they have the same name it doesn’t mean that they are the same person… right?

I doodled in my notepad instead of taking careful notes like I should have been doing. Jean was going out of his way to talk to the entire class instead of just giving us a piece of paper of what we should be doing in a lesson and to answer some questions. I feel so stupid right now. I can’t believe I’m even getting so held up by it. I pulled the paper out of my book and scrunched it up. I glanced up at Jean who gave me a small smile and it felt like I had just been shot in the chest as my stomach clenched. Even if I never find my childhood friend I have Jean and I think that’s all I’ll need for the time being.

After the lesson ended, I put my stuff back and walked up to Jean. “Good afternoon.” I beamed at the male.

“Hey Marco. Do you want to grab a bite now? I might need to take some things with me because I need to do some marking.” He scowled and I gave a small smile. He must seriously hate marking.

“Sure. I’ll gladly go.” I couldn’t hold back my smile from widening. We left the empty classroom and made our way to a small café near Trost College. It looked homely inside and gave off a pleasant feel as we walked inside. It may have been small but I found the place to be homely.

We took a table that was at the back and Jean got on with his work while I went to the counter to get some food. Jean wanted a ham and cheese toasty on white bread, I wanted a jacket potato with cheese and butter and I got us both two cokes.

When I went back to the table with our cokes, I saw that Jean was in deep concentration with his markings. It seemed like he was checking each essay with care and giving them little notes at the end on what they could improve on and what they did well. Exams were soon so we were studying our asses off. I placed the cokes on the table and got out my script for the drama performance I was going to be in. It was a Shakespeare play called Romeo and Juliet. I didn’t have a big part but I was still glad that I was able to be in it. Connie and Sasha were really good and I’m glad that they got the main roles for this play. Reiner, Bertholdt and Krista were helping backstage this time and helping us all out with the lights and costumes. Krista was making the outfits and I bet they would look amazing when she finishes them.

“I might go and watch you do this play.” Jean states suddenly. He had finished his marking and had put it away in his bag.

“I’ll try and get you a front seat.” I smile just as our food comes along. It looked delicious and smelled great too. I thanked the waitress and when she left. I put my script away and we began to eat. Jean dug into his while I savoured the taste with every bite of mine.

“This place always does the best food. I loved it.” Jean beamed. It was such a relaxed and genuine smile that I swore that my heart skipped a beat.

“I love it. Thanks Jean for telling me about this place.”

“It’s nothing really.” Jean rubbed the back of head and I thought I saw him blush but that might have been my mind playing tricks with me.

“Do you want to try some of this? It’s really good.” I asked as I gave a smile. Jean’s eyes widened but he took me up on the offer and took a big bit of steaming potato with his fork and ate it.

“Yeah it is.” He smiled slightly at me. “And you can try some of mine. It wouldn’t be fair if you didn’t.”

“Okay.” I beamed as he gave me some of the remaining toasty and I took a bite. The melted cheese rolled on my tongue and the ham went really well with the cheese and white bread. I inhaled deeply. “This is delishous. Thanks Jean.”

“I-it’s nothing really.” Jean turned to look somewhere else. I tilted my head but let it slide. I finished my hot potato and slipped at my coke. Jean was telling me about a really bad paper that he had gotten from a student in one of his classes. The boy had the worst grammar and spelling he had ever seen in his life. I joked that he was making it sound like a five year old could do better than this kid and we burst into a fit of laughter. I wiped the tears from my eyes that had appeared from laughing too much. “He’s not even the worst student either. One student doesn’t even turn up to class but his mum said that I had to sign him in or she’ll fine a compliant and I can’t be assed with that shit so I did what she wanted.” I gave a giggle and smiled.

“That sounds silly.”

“Yeah but he always has someone who hands in his completed essays to me and their all perfect. All I have to say about this kid is that he sounds like a right pussy.” We got up to leave and walked back towards Sina dorms.

“Do you want to come to my dorm? The others don’t get back until later today because Connie has practice and Reiner and Bertholdt have made plans with a girl called Annie. She’s a girl I knew when I was little and through school.”

“Y-yeah sure.” Jean stuttered as we walked through the door. I waved at Hitch who seemed to smirk at me. Had James already told her about the party? We entered in the lift when it came and soon we were finally at my dorm. I suddenly had become hyperaware of the fact that the person I had feelings was going to enter my room and it was a state. I unlocked my door and locked it behind us. I dropped my keys into the bowl by the door that Reiner had brought back after he came back from visiting Annie with Bertholdt. We used it to put our keys in when we didn’t need to use them. I took off my shoes and ran to check to see if any of my underwear could be found anywhere. Luckily I only found one pair and threw them straight into my hamper before Jean walked in.

He looked around the room and joined me on my bed. “Your side of the room is a state.” He said jokingly as he gave me a playful push with his shoulder which I returned back to him.

“It’s not that bad.” I smirked. Jean’s eyes landed on my guitar and I picked it up from its spot. I hadn’t been playing much lately.

“You play?”

“Yeah.” I smiled.

“Sweet.” Jean smirked. I rose an eyebrow and smiled back.

“I haven’t been playing in a while though. The drum set is Connie’s. He’s amazing at it.”

“You should play something.” Jean suggested.

“Okay.” I beamed as I pulled out a large box from the cupboard that had my amplifier and a wire to connect my guitar to the box. I plugged the amplifier into the plug socket and pulled the switch so that the guitar would make some sound. I stated tuning it until it was right then sent a smile to Jean who smiled back. I took a deep breath, trying my best to calm my nerves and slow down my pounding heart and I began to play. It was a tune my mum had taught me to play when I was younger and it was one of my favourites.

Jean listened in amazement as his lips were slightly parted and he had a slight smile. His eyes seemed to glim with wonder.

When I finished playing, he gave me a round of applause and I couldn’t stop a smile from sprouting on my face. Jean was so nice. “That was amazing.” Jean grinned. He helped me put away everything again and we sat back on the bed again.

“Thanks.” I smiled. I looked at Jean and our eyes locked.

“I mean it. I think you’re amazing at that. I’m so jealous.” Jean said as he placed a hand on my shoulder.

“Thanks Jean.” I pushed back the thought of wrapping my arms around him and planting a big kiss on his lips.

“Right.” Jean stood up and I followed suit. “What game should we play?”

“We should play just dance 57.” I beamed as we walked into the lounge again.

“Your own.” Jean smirked as he undid his tie and top button on his shirt.

A few rounds in and I was beating Jean. “Man this is harder than I thought.” Jean took a deep breath. I gave a giggle.

“Well I have had a lot of practice on this.” I pressed on the last song. Jean moaned as he had to get up off the sofa.

“It’s all or nothing on this. I’m not losing this time.” Jean frowned to show me that he was now focused and ready to win. I smiled at his determination.

The song ended and Jean had only just won. “See I told you Marco!” He grinned as he wiped a bit of sweat off his forehead.

“Yeah you did.” I laughed as Jean did a victory pose and smirked at me. “You were amazing.”

“I’m boiling though. Have you got anything I can change into? I think I might need to use a shower.”

“Y-yeah.” I stuttered. An image of Jean wearing my clothes popped into my head for a moment before a quickly shook my head. “I’ll leave them by the door when you’re done.” I told Jean where the bathroom was and he didn’t miss a beat as he quickly went through my room to one of the bathrooms.

I walked into my room and heard the shower running. All I could imagine was Jean washing himself in my body wash and being stark naked in the room next to me. I felt like I was going to die with embarrassment when the image came into my head. I gave a mental scream as I felt my stomach tighten and my chest feeling heavy but oddly I welcomed it with open arms. Maybe this is what it’s like to like-like someone. I got out a simple shirt, a pair of jeans and underwear from my wardrobe and placed them neatly by the door. “I’ve put some clothes by the door. I don’t think you’ve brought any spare underwear so you can borrow mine.” I called to the male in the shower and my entire face felt like it was on fire. That was defiantly not what friends said to one another at all! Maybe it’s fine to do that. I mean you’re in love with me so why would it matter? Just kiss him already, I thought subconisously. I shook my head quickly, walked out of my room, lunged onto one of the sofas and closed my eyes. Maybe a quick nap would cool me down and with that thought, I let myself drift off to sleep.

“…co…Marco wake up!” I heard a voice call for me.

“Five more minutes.” I groaned as I snuggled into the sofa to keep the warmth that I had that was trying to escape.

“Marco wake the fuck up now.” Jean grabbed my shoulder and shook me lightly. I opened one eye slowly and accustomed to the new light. I had let out a light groan and sat up. I turned to face Jean.

“What time is it?” I yawned. He was wearing my clothes and his hair was damp from the shower. I couldn’t stop the blush that had grown across my freckled cheeks.

“It’s time to get something to eat. Come on sleepyhead.” Jean smirked as I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. “I’m starving.”

“How long have I been asleep for?” I yawned again and giving a big stretch. Jean’s eyes seemed to glance over at me and he quickly turned away again. I smoothed down my shirt and wiped the drool off my chin.

“A few hours now. I didn’t want to wake you up so I watched some TV. Now I’m starving and we are getting something to eat.”

“Okay, okay.” I giggled, “You could have woken me up though when you got out of the shower. You might want to dry your hair though.” I noticed that Jean’s cheeks had gone to a pink tint but I let it slide past without a question.

“We are going to pizza hut. I’m crazing pizza right now.” Jean slipped on his trainers. “Can I borrow one of your bags?”

“Yeah sure. I’ll just go and get one.” I smiled as I headed into my room, grabbed a small black rucksack and gave it to Jean who took it from me gratefully. He shoved in his dirty clothes into the rucksack and swung it onto his back.

“Thanks.” He smiled slightly at me. I smiled back as I slipped on my blue and brown crocs. They were a comfy pair of loafers that my mum had bought me for my birthday. “Crocs. Seriously?” Jean smirked as I got my keys and unlocked the door.

“They’re comfortable.” I beamed at him. I locked the door behind me and put my keys into my pocket. I also had a 10 pound note that was nestled in the tight pocket of my jeans.

It was a twenty minute walk to pizza hut and Jean and I were talking about random things along the way. One of them was that my brother was planning yet another party for when we broke up for the holidays in December. He had moaned about how much work he would need to mark and hand in during the holidays and how he just wanted to go home and fall asleep.

We ordered the buffet and Jean immediately got up to the salad area when our waitress, who had her hair tied in a neat bun, handed us our bowls. I followed suit and picked some healthy looking tomatoes and salad with pasta. Jean hand piled almost everything in his bowl from the cucumber to the bacon bits. I held back a giggle as we made our way back to our table.

After we got our pizza, we dug in. I had gotten a ham and pineapple and margarita pizza while Jean had piled every kind of pizza that was being served.

“How are you going to eat all that?” I giggled as he wolfed down a slice of pizza which was covered in potato salad.

“I’m starving and I need to eat.” Jean reasoned. “You should try the bolognaise pizza. It’s amazing.” Jean grinned after he swallowed what he was eating. “You can have my slice if you want.”

“Okay.” I smiled back politely and picked the slice of pizza off of his plate. My teeth sunk into the dough of the pizza and Jean was right. This pizza was delicious. “You were right. I love it.”

“Aren’t I always?” Jean raised an eyebrow cockily and then bite into another slice of pizza. I ate my salad. If only it could be like this forever, I thought to myself. I loved seeing Jean’s chestnut eyes light up with delight as he chomped down on his food and gobbled it up. The way he was eating seemed to send a smile straight to my lips and I couldn’t hold back the giggle that had been pushing its way in my throat. Jean gave me a look at probably wanted me to explain what was so funny.

“Sorry it’s just you’re getting food everywhere.” A wiped a tear before it could escape. Jean seemed to go ten shades darker and put his food down.

“Is it that weird?” He asked me with a frown on his face. Jean gave a small pout.

“No I think its fine the way you eat. You just have it all over your face.” I pointed out as I handed him a wipe for his face. He quickly wiped off the sauce that seemed to stain the corners of his lips and chin.

“Thanks.” He grinned, “I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t told me.”

“You probably would have walked out of pizza hut without a care in the world as to why strangers would be staring at you funny.” We burst into laughter at the thought of that happened and Jean gave me a wide smile which always seemed to make my stomach flip.

“Yeah you’re probably right about that.” Jean finished the rest of his meal and headed to the toilet. I nibbled at my last piece of pizza and picked up my empty cup to get a drink from the machine. I pressed onto the button for coke and the liquid poured into my cup until it was full. I walked back to my table and sat back down. 

I’m really enjoying today with Jean, I smiled to myself. I can’t believe his wearing my clothes too and even my underwear. My face was burning up as I held back what images could be lurking to the back of my mind and locked them up. This however did not stop the feeling of my jeans feeling slightly tighter than they were before. I stared coldly at the table as I realised that I was having an awkward boner and the worst of it was that I was in public. I crossed my legs to make it less obvious and tried to think of a bunch of things before Jean came back from the toilets.

 

Think about that time you had fallen asleep in the bath at home and nearly drowned! Think about that time when you spewed all over your mums new cars because you were feeling awful! Think about that time when you fell head first into a ditch and had to be pulled out by a teacher! Think about that time when you had almost crashed your car and just missed driving into a lake! Think about that time when you wet yourself in front of the class when you were five! Think about anything but Jean!

I sighed in relief as I began to relax again and downed my glass of coke. Jean walked over and gave me a strange look but seemed to let go whatever he wanted to ask me. Jean had insisted in paying for our meal and we were walking back to college. I pushed away the urge to hold Jeans hand as we walked in silence. Marco you need to get your head on straight, I told myself, Jean is your teacher and he probably doesn’t like you the way you like him so stop fantasising about his hot body already!

We made our way to Sina dorms and parted ways. I waved bye to him and almost let myself wrap my arms around his neck and hug him. I didn’t. Instead I walked into my dorm, smiled at hitch and unlocked my dorm door. Connie was practising on his drum kit as I could hear it as soon as I opened the front door. I locked the door behind me and let out the breath I had been holding and walked into the room I shared with Connie. “How was practise?” I asked him as he set down the sticks on one of the drums.

“It was good but I’m finding it slightly hard to remember the lines.”

“Yeah me too.” I smiled, “I could help you practise if you want and then we can head to the skate park for a bit.”

“That would be awesome.” Connie grinned. He pulled out the script from his bag and passed it to me. I read out Juliet’s lines while Connie (Romeo) played his part. 

“If I profane with my unworthiest hand this holy shrine, the gentle fine is this: my lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand to smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.” Connie read out his line and seemed to suddenly become his character.

“Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much, which mannerly devotion shows in this; for saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch, and palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss.” I got into the character of Juliet. We did more of the script and I smiled at Connie. He was really amazing at this. I gave a light giggle as I handed the script back to Connie. “You’re amazing. Now wonder you got the main part.”

“Thanks man.” Connie grinned as he picked up his skateboard. “I try.” I grabbed my skateboard from under my desk and followed Connie out of the door. He locked the door behind us and we walked to the skate park.

“You’ll have to kiss Sasha you know.” I smiled. Connie blushed wildly and turned to face me.

“That’s the part that I’m stuck on. I can’t stop my heart from beating real fast. When I lean in, Furlan keeps telling me that I’m falling out of character and Isabel’s been smirked at me. I think she’s onto me.” We burst into laughter. “You’re really good at acting.” Connie said as we managed to finally stop laughing.

“Thanks.” We entered the deserted skate park in the college. The street lights were emulating on all the ramps and rails. Some of the walls had been graphited on and since the teachers tended to stay away from this part of the college, it would be left there. I did some tricks on my skateboard and did some gridding. It was a bit harder because I had not been on my board for a few weeks so my skills were a bit rusty. I turned to Connie and saw as he did a flip and landed perfectly on his skateboard. “Show off!” I giggled. Connie gave a grin and did another trick.

“Just fining my skills for the skating tournament that’s on next year.” Connie grinded on one of the rails as I sat down on my board for a bit.

“Good luck.”

After what seemed like hours of skating at the skate park, we decided to skate back to our dorms. I gave a big yawn. It had started getting dark when we were at the skate ring and its only 7:15. I felt like I was going to pass out and rubbed the sleep out of my heavy eyelids. I couldn’t wait to drop into my bed and fall asleep. 

Suddenly Connie came to a stop so I planted my foot into the ground so that I slowed down and stopped too. “What’s wrong?” I asked him. You could see the clogs in his mind were turning as he wondered what to say to me.

“Well… I think you should see your old man sometime.” Connie replied eyes drawn to his skateboard. I could tell that he was trying to pick the right words to choose but if it was on this topic there couldn’t ever be a nice way to put it.

“I don’t think so.” I tried to force on a smile but it came out as vague, “I’ve met him before and he’s the worst. I want nothing to do with him.” And we left it at that.

All the way to our dorms was silent except from the cars driving past and the footsteps of people going home from a late night out.

We reached our dorms and Reiner and Bertholdt were snuggled under a blanket on the sofa watching a recording of ‘how I met your mother’. I waved to them and headed straight into my room. I didn’t really want to talk to anyone at the moment so I quickly pulled on my pyjamas, brushed my teeth and jumped into bed. The only problem was that I couldn’t get to sleep. Maybe because it was too early or because my mind was bursting with energy. I just couldn’t get to sleep.

In the middle of the night I got a call from my mum.

“Hello.” I mumbled after I picked up my phone I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes.

“Good evening kiddo.”

“Mum what is it?” I pulled off my blankets, slipped on my slippers that were by the bed and went into the lounge.

“I just felt like calling you that’s all.” I could tell that she had a grin plastered on her face at that point.

“Is that it?” I groaned, “It’s the middle of the night and I have class tomorrow with Jean.”

“I know Jean. The horse-face.”

“Mum! He’s not a horse-face and I happen like him.” I could feel my face burn up after I said that and heard my mum give a chuckle.

“I knew it! Well at the next party I might help you out then.”

“How?” I raised my eyebrow in confusion. Wait does she mean THAT?

“I’m gonna help you get into horse-faces pants by the end of the party.” Before I could say anything else she hung up. My entire body felt like it was on fire. I would go for a walk but the campus security were probably out on patrol and I didn’t want to get caught by one of them. I dropped onto the sofa, pulled the blanket over me and watched random TV shows until I passed out on the sofa.

Even if I had fallen asleep at three in the morning, I seemed to wake up at five and couldn’t fall back asleep. I decided to get ready so I took a quick shower and brushed my teeth. I walked over to my wardrobe and picked out a simple jumper, long sleeved top and jeans.

When I was ready I went to the mini kitchen and opened my cupboard. I decided to have some cereal for a change. I got out some coco pops and took out the milk from the mini fridge and poured both of them into a small bowl. I pulled out a spoon from the draw and put everything else away then sat on the sofa with my cereal. Maybe I should go on my skateboard before lessons. I grabbed my phone from its charger, slid it into my rucksack with all the stuff for today and got my keys. I unlocked the door and locked it behind me. After dropping my keys into my rucksack and picking up my skateboard, I headed to the lift.

I needed to buy Armin a present for his birthday and I noticed that there was a book collection that he had been eyeing up and was planning to buy it. I might as well buy it now since it was in less than a week. I changed the direction I was going on my skateboard and went in the direction of the bookstore. I got out the book series on mythology and went to the counter. The lady at the counter had her blonde hair tied up in a messy bun and her blue eyes were on a book that she was reading in her hands. The girl was wearing a white hooded sweatshirt with dark grey trousers. She looked up and her sea blue eyes found their way to me. It was Annie Leonhart.

“Hi Marco. What do you need today?” Annie asked as she put her book down. I handed the books to her. “Mythology hmm. That’s cool.”

“Oh I’m buying them for my friend Armin. He seemed to really want them so I’m buying them for his birthday.”

“That’s nice. That’ll be fifteen pound.” Annie said as I handed her two ten pound notes. She put the money into the cashier and gave me a five pound note back. She placed the books into a bag and handed it to me. I opened up my rucksack and put them in carefully before closing the bag again.

“How come you’re here Annie?”

“I’m helping Bertholdt’s mum with the bookstore for a bit because they’re both super busy at the moment.”

“Okay Annie I’ll see you later.” I smiled.

“Yeah see you later.” Annie replied. I left the bookstore and went back to the college grounds.

I had just made it to my English class and it turned out that I was now late. I looked through the window in the door to see that it had to be a lecture lesson and Jean seemed to be going through important things for the tests that would be after the Christmas holidays. I quickly snuck in and took my place at my desk. Connie and Sasha both smirked at me and Jean rose an eyebrow but seemed to let it slid as he continued with his lecture.

When the lecture was over and the lesson had finished, Jean called me over. “How come you were so late?” He asked.

“I was buying something for Armin’s birthday. It’s on Tuesday so I wanted to buy it today. I didn’t think that I was going to be so late. Sorry.” I apologised.

“No it’s fine.” Jean chuckled, “I was just curious that’s all.” He sent a hand through his hair and inhaled. “Are you doing anything this weekend?”

“I promised to go home for the weekend but you can come over too. I know that you already know my mum and James.” I giggled.

“Is that okay?” Jean asked. His eyebrows were risen in a state of slight shock. 

“Yeah it’s fine.” I beamed, “Right I need to go to maths class now.”

“Yeah I have another class that’s coming. I’ll meet you outside Sina dorms then.”

“Okay. See you later.” I giggled again and headed to my next class.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well done for finishing this chapter :) I write more than I normally did and was going to write more but I thought that it might be good to stop there and leave the trip for the next chapter
> 
> See you in the next chapter!!


	5. sleepovers and horror films

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is going to have a lot of character development on Marco, Jean and Ymir I was listening to the ost of no regrets: 'so ist es immer' (I think that's what it's called :D) and there may be a bit of confusion about why this happened and what is with one of the characters but we might see them again and get an explanation on it
> 
> As always I don't own anything in this except the plot

Soon enough the next day came and I stood in the lift with one of my rucksacks which had my stripy flannel pyjamas inside and my phone charger and headphones. I found Jean talking to Hitch again. I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t a tiny bit jealous of her. Jean turned around to face me when Hitch pointed at me. He gave a small wave and I waved back and quickly made my way towards him. “Are you ready for today?” I asked with a smile planted on my face.

“As ready as I will ever be.” Jean gave a smug smirk as he picked up his small duffle bag.

We made our way to my car and chucked are bags into the boot. I got to the driver’s seat and Jean sat in the passenger’s seat next to me. We strapped ourselves in, I sent mum a quick text to tell her that we were on our way and started to drive out of the college for the two hour journey that we were going to have. Jean had fallen asleep half way to my house and his head was tilted upwards so that his mouth was gaping open. I giggled a bit then made sure my attention was on the road.

When we finally made it, I shook Jean awake and got our bags from the boot. He took his bag from me. I locked the car when we had everything and we both went inside. “I’m home.” I called as I slipped off my shoes and placed our bags out of the way of the door so no one tripped over them. I pulled my coat off and hung it on one of the hooks by the door. Jean followed suit. I lead him to my room so that we could drop our bags off. My room was a small room with a few things. It had a double bed, drawer, wardrobe and desk for me to do my work. I had pale blue sheets that were neatly placed and there was a colossal amount of photos of me and my friends and family by my desk. 

“So this is your room.” Jean said as he dropped onto my bed, “I was wondering whose room I woke up in at the party.” I joined him on my bed.

“What do you even remember from the party?” I asked curiously but made sure I didn’t sound like I was prying.

“Well… I remember talking to you when we were doing seven minutes in heaven and then going to the kitchen to talk to you for a bit. Oh, I also remember going into someone’s room.” Jean scratches his head, “I didn’t drink a lot so I remember mostly of what happened at the party.”

“Lucky you.” I giggled, “All I remember up to is when we went to the kitchen and I took a shot and then after that I don’t remember anything. I think I woke up and you were sleeping next to me though. I didn’t do anything silly when I was drunk, right?”

Jean’s chestnut eyes darted around the room. “No, not that I can remember anyway.” His ears seemed to be tinted pink. I tilted my head. I wanted to ask him what was making him so nervous but I let it go for the time being.

“Do you want to watch a film until my mum gets back?” I asked Jean.

“Yeah sure.” Jean sat up and we went into the lounge. I got out the large amount of films that we had and showed them to Jean. “You can pick a one if you want. We have the game plan, some marvel films and… lots of horror films.”

“Are you a fan of horror films or something?” Jean smirked.

“No. They’re all my mums but I have seen two of them with her. Do you want to watch one?”

“Yeah sure.” Jean picked one of the film boxes, the conjuring. I felt myself pale instantly.

“Are you sure you want to pick that one?”

“How come?”

“N-never mind.” I grabbed the blanket, sat on the sofa with a pillow in my arms.

“What are you doing?” Jean smirked.

“I’m just getting comfy.” I pouted and made room for Jean after he put the DVD in the player.

“I’m going to turn off the lights. The film will be shit if the light is on.”

“O-ok.” I couldn’t hold back the stutter. Jean smirked as I pulled the blanket over him and I gave him a playful shoulder barge. The film started and I was dreading it.

It hadn’t even been ten minutes and I was clinging to Jeans arm. I became hyperaware that I was so close to him. I could feel my stomach twist and as I quickly backed away from him. “S-sorry.” I turned my attention to the TV again.

“You’re scared of horror films aren’t you?” Jean smirked at me.

“S-so what if I am.” I pouted. Suddenly the scene were the pictures fell down the stars happened and I almost jumped out of my skin and dropped into Jeans arms with a scream. I felt him give a slight jump as well.

The film ended and the credits were rolling. Me and Jean were both under the blanket and clung to one another for our dear lives. “I-I wasn’t scared or anything.” Jean blushed as he pulled off the blanket and turned on the light. I grabbed the remote control with my still shaking hand and turned off the TV.

“Jean of course you were scared.” I giggled as I calmed my nerves.

“You were too.” Jean smirked and dodged the pillow that I tossed at him. “You starting?”

“Yeah.” I giggled even louder, “Bring it.” I chucked another pillow at Jean.

“You’re picked the wrong person for this battle.” Jean grinned as he caught the pillow I had just throw at him and flung it back towards me. Soon after it became a heated pillow fight and we were hurling pillows back and forth. I had pulled the sofa from against the wall and used the space that I had made and used it as a fort. I shot up just as a pillow hit my face. We burst into a fit of laughter.

“I’ll get you for that.” I wiped a tear from my eye that had appeared from laughing too much.

Soon enough mum was back and opened the door to see us in the middle of the battle. “What are you two doing?” My mum asked with a huge smirk on her face.

“Just having a pillow fight mum.” I giggled.

“Hi Ymir.” Jean placed the pillow back on the sofa.

“You don’t need to stop.” Ymir chuckled, “I was just seeing what was going on with you kiddos in here. Glad you still have your clothes on.”

“Mum!” I shrieked, my cheeks felt like they were burning.

“Alright, alright. I’m going.” My mum grinned, “Do you want anything before I go.”

“Where are you going? You just came back.” I asked mum when she pulled her black coat back on and wrapped her black scarf around her neck.

“Yeah. I was just dropping off my bags kiddo.” mum shrugged and slipped on her trainers. I passed her the note for the things that I needed and mum pushed it in her pocket after giving the list a quick look. “Remember not to answer the door to strangers.”

“Mum! I’m not five anymore!” I blushed slightly and pouted.

“You know I’m messing with you kiddo.” Mum grinned, “Right see you when I get back.” Mum turned back before she closed the door, “James is at Eren’s tonight so you won’t need to make him anything for tea and Jean can sleep in his room if he wants.”

“Okay. See you later mum.” I smiled then she closed the door and headed off towards the supermarket nearby. I went back into the lounge where Jean was placing the pillows back on the sofa. I helped him push it back and we dropped onto the sofa.

“Where has Ymir gone?”

“She went to go buy some things at the shop. James isn’t going to be here tonight so you can sleep in his room if you want. Do you know how to get there?”

“Yeah freckles.” Jean chuckled, “I’ve been here before.”

“Just checking.” I beamed, “Do you want something to eat.”

“Fuck yeah. I’m starving.”

“I’m glad I asked then.” I giggled and gestured for Jean to follow me into the kitchen. I looked at the clock above the kitchen. It was half past one already. Jean sat down on one of the breakfast bar chairs. I opened the fridge and looked around to see what was in. There was the casserole leftovers that mum and James had yesterday for tea. “Do you mind having leftovers? It’s casserole.”

“Yeah that’s fine.” Jean replied as I pulled out the leftovers on placed it in the oven to re-heat.

“Sorry.” I apologised as I sent a hand through my raven hair, “We haven’t got a lot in at the moment.”

“I like casserole so it’s cool.” Jean gave a light smile then proceeded to help me get the plates, knives and forks out then set them up for lunch. Mum had sent me a text that she had bumped into Krista and had gone to a café for lunch with her so she didn’t need anything for tea. I got out the piping hot casserole and grabbed a big spoon so that I could put it on our plates.

“You can help yourself.” I beamed as I tucked in. James’s cooking was always amazing. Luckily mum hadn’t made it because sometimes she acted like she hadn’t cooked in 50 years. On those days she would burn everything.

A knock came from the door before I could take my first bite. “I’ll go get it.” I smiled and walked down the hallway to the door and opened it with a smile. However, my smile vanished and a frown replaced it when I noticed who it was. The male had sandy blond hair and dark black eyes. He had a tall figure and was broad. Before he could say anything, I slammed the door. Before I could go back, he knocked again. I opened the door.

“Alex, mum isn’t home and she wants you to fuck off.”

“Can you let me in?” Alex asked me, “I’m your father and I let you stay at my house so that you could live. Do you remember?”

“Of course I remember! I just want you to fuck off, okay!” I heard my voice raising with anger but I couldn’t stop the words from flowing, “When I came back and you did what you did made me despise you! Leave me and mum alone!”

“Marco you know I can’t leave until I sort things out. I’ve changed.”

“That’s what you said last time! James told me everything you… you… I hate you alright so go away!”

“Not until I see Ymir.” Alex stood tall but he was just a bit shorter than me so it had no effect on me.

“Go away!” I tried to close the door again but his foot got in the way and he came inside. “Mum isn’t here so please leave!” Jean must have heard my yelling by now as he was now in the hallway with the two of us.

“Marco, what’s going on? Who’s this?” Jean asked me. I didn’t know what was going on myself but I knew who it was and I hated it. I hated myself for letting him in when I knew he would be at the door.

“Just one of my mum’s ex’s.” I spat out the words.

“And his dad.” Alex imputed his opinion, “I need to tell her something.”

“What? That you still love her and you want her back.” I glared at him, “You’ve caused mum to have a crap life and she used to drink too many glasses of wine and beer. I’ve finally gotten her out of it but you have to come back. It’s been almost two years since she’s seen you and mum’s fine now so go away.”

In that moment I felt a hand grab my arm and pull my closer. The hairs on my back rose and even if I was taller, I couldn’t help but quiver. “I WILL be talking to your mum, Ymir. Do I make myself clear?” I felt a lump in my throat and swallowed sharply. The words wouldn’t come out of my mouth and I flinched slightly when he moved his other hand slightly.

Suddenly, a pair of arms pulled me away from him. Jean was grabbing Alex’s wrist so he had let go and pulled me away. My eyes widened and I lost all my fears. I turned to look up at Jean and he smiled lightly at me. 

I turned around to see my mum at the door. She dropped the bags on the floor and was glaring at Alex. “I told you to never come back here you asshole and you do anyway! You dare go near my child again and I will call the police and beat the shit out of you!” Mum grabbed Alex by his collar, “I can’t stand the sight of you! I don’t know what I was thinking when we fucked but let me tell you one thing; you are shit in bed.” Mum dragged the man out of the door and tossed him onto the floor. “If you do come back I will go to where you live and burn everything you own and that is a promise that I will be keeping until I die.” My mum hissed the words out as Alex got up and brushed off the dirt on his trousers.

“You crazy bitch! I’m glad I finished you.” He yelled then raced down the road.

“Sorry mum.” I picked up the bags my mum had dropped and helped her put them away.

“No it’s fine. I’ve been wanting to do that for so long.” Mum smirked, “And no I don’t want another bottle of beer.” I giggled as I placed the canteen of orange juice in the fridge. Jean muttered something under his breath and went into the lounge.

“That’s good.” I slid the bag of peas into the freezer. My mum wrapped her arms around me and rested her chin on my shoulder.

“I’m glad you’re okay.” Mum smiled.

“Jean helped me.” I giggled, “If it weren’t for him, I don’t think I would have held back.”

“I know kiddo.” I could feel my mum smile into my shoulder. I turned around and wrapped my arms around her.

“It’s not your fault.” I whispered softly and mum’s shoulders tensed up.

“I know.” She sniffled and pulled out of the hug, “Your mum is a strong person got that.” Mum broke out into a big grin. “I’ll protect you with everything I’ve got. That’s what mums are for.” I giggled and smiled back.

“Okay mum. Love you.”

“I love you too kiddo. You’ve done me proud. Now go and talk to your friend. You shouldn’t be rude to guests.”

“What about the groceries?”

“I’ll do the rest.” Ymir waved me away, “Go be with your lover boy.”  
“Mum!” I blushed strongly, “It’s not like that.” I tried to persuade my mum but she was having none of it. She gave me a smug grin and rolled her eyes. I gave a huff of annoyance and left the room and joined Jean in the lounge. “Sorry about the commotion.” I apologised as I sat next to Jean on the sofa.

“It’s fine. I mean if you need any help just ask.” Jean turned off the TV that had been playing mean girls and turned to face me.

“Thanks Jean.” I giggled. I could feel my neck getting hotter as he gazed at me with his chestnut eyes. He shrugged.

“What are friends for?” He gave a crooked smirk which caused me to smile back and butterflies grew in my stomach. The one thing that held me back from throwing my arms around him was the fact that this was still my teacher and that Jean said that we were friends. Marco you are such an idiot for thinking that he would have a thing for someone like you but I guess I can still dream about it – I thought with a light sigh.

“Y-You’re right.” I stuttered as I tried to keep the smile planted on my face; even if it did look a little forced.

“What’s up?” Jean asked me as he shuffled closer to me and I instantly became hyperaware of how close we were and I suddenly felt like my face was burning. I gave a few seconds to decide what to say.

“N-nothing.” I stammered. Jean didn’t believe me so he came up even closer to me with an eyebrow risen in confusion. I could feel my blush growing stronger as I backed away slightly. Marco Bodt, you are officially an idiot.

“Okay whatever you say.” Jean pulled away and turned the TV back on. I let out a sigh of relief.

Mum brought in our casseroles and said that she heated again because they’d gone cold. We thanked her and dug into them as we watched one of the marvel films, ant man. I burst into laughter at one of the scenes when they were tiny and ant man got hit by Thomas the tank engine. Jean let out a giggle too.

Soon the credits were rolling and I let out a yawn. Even if it was four, I was still sleepy. Mum wasn’t going to make tea until six. “That was awesome.” Jean said in amazement as I turned off the TV and got up to turn the lights on as it was already getting dark outside. It would be pitch dark by half five.

“I know right. Ant man is my favourite film of all time.” I hopped back onto the sofa, “I could watch it all day if I could.” We talked about our favourite parts of the film and what we liked the best until tea was ready. Mum had made us a chicken pie to share and we all sat at the table. Mum made amazing food and she had tried teaching me but gave up.

“This is delicious.” Jean beamed as he took his second slice and wolfed it down.

“I’m glad you like it.” Mum grinned as she got herself another slice. Those two were on their third slice when I had just finished my first slice. 

“You two are eating too fast.” I told them, “You’ll get an upset stomach.”

“But it’s so good.” Jean grinned and got another slice.

“Yeah. I haven’t made chicken pie in a long time so I want to eat a lot of it. You know I love chicken pie.” Mum smirked. I gave a deep sign and put two slices on my plate so that they didn’t disappear in a flash. It was like watching two kids having a race at who could eat the most.

After the pie was all gone, Jean was clutching his stomach and mum was grinning so much it was like she had won the gold medal for eating the most. “Jean I told you that you’d get a stomach ache if you ate too much.”

“But it was so good I couldn’t stop.” Jean reasoned. Mum chuckled.

“I didn’t know I was that good at cooking. Marco, can you help me wash the pots?” Ymir placed some of the dishes into the dishwasher and I washed the pots that wouldn’t fit in when it got full. Jean rested his head against the cool surface and let out a groan. “Do you want to watch a film before you go to bed?”

“Depends on what film.” I responded. I knew my mum well enough that she would want to watch a horror film and I had enough of them for the time being.

“I horror film and the gorier the better.” Mum cackled as I felt a shudder go down my spine involuntarily.

“Then I’m going to bed. I don’t think I want to watch another horror film tonight. I really don’t want nightmares tonight.” I explained.

“Are you sure you don’t want to watch it with me. Saw is not even that scary.” Mum reasoned.

“Mum you said that about paranormal activity and I had nightmares for two weeks straight.”

“You were young then. Of course you would be scared.”

“I was twelve.” I let out a deep sigh and face palmed, “Fine I’ll watch it with you but if I get nightmares tonight then it’s your fault.” I spun to glance at Jean, “Do you want to watch it too?”

“Why not? I don’t want to be the only one not watching anything.” Jean got up and followed us into the lounge. Mum put the DVD in the DVD player and started the film. At that point I started to regret my decision.

Halfway through the film, mum had fallen asleep and I was cowering behind Jean with the blanket over my head. I hated this film so much when my mum watched it for the first time and I couldn’t believe I was watching this. I pressed my head against Jean’s arm and a shiver shot up my spine as I remembered what scene the film was on. I am defiantly going to have nightmares tonight, I thought as a let out a sharp breath.

At the end of the film, Jean had joined me under the blanket and we gripped onto each other for the second time today. My mum was snoring loudly on the sofa and hadn’t seemed to wake up when we had screamed in fright. I realised that we were so close and jumped back with the speed of light. My cheeks were bright red as the stop on the traffic lights. “I-I’m going to wake mum up then take her to bed. You can get ready if you want.” I lightly shook my mum who started to wake from her sleep. “Mum you need to go to bed or you’ll wake up with a bad back.” Mum just let out a groan and snuggled into me. Jean nodded his head and went out of the room.

“Marco, mummy doesn’t want to wake up.” Mum mumbled, “I’m dreaming of my angel giving me the best present for Christmas.” I rolled my eyes and gave her another shake.

“You can dream of that stuff when you go to bed.” I told her. Mum gave up and sat back up then slowly made her way to her room. I picked up my bag from by the door and went into my room. I changed into my flannel pyjamas, plugged my phone into its charger and dropped into my bed. It was time for the night of nightmares. It would have been cool to go to sleep with Jean but he was sleeping in my brother’s room.

I snuggled under my covers and when I closed my eyes, I heard the noises of the film and it sent a shiver down my spine. I couldn’t get to sleep because of the dread of having nightmares. I hate you mum, I moaned as I rolled over.

Suddenly a knock came from the door and someone came in. The person seemed to sneak to the other side of my bed and tuck themselves in. I pretended to sleep so I didn’t scare them off. When I heard the light snores, I turned around to see the figure of Jean. I could see him better because the door was open and it let in the light from the hallway. I took in his figure. He had a sharp nose and had surprisingly long eyelashes. I couldn’t stop myself before I was tracing my figure over his eyebrows, down his nose, across his pale lips and to his chin.

I quickly let go when I felt him move. My chest was tight and my stomach was tied in multiple knots. I snuggled closer to Jean. I could take advantage of this situation as it could have been the only time that this would happen. I wrapped an arm around Jean and I felt like he had moved closer. When I closed my eyes it was no longer filled with nightmares from the film but now of thoughts of me and Jean being together and doing things that couples would do.

I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes as I woke up and realised that Jean wasn’t there anymore. He was by my bed and was wearing a blue sweater with a pair of jeans. I giggled silently at the joke I had made in my head about Jean and pulled off the comfy bed sheets off of me. For the first time in a while, I had had an amazing sleep and even felt refreshed. Was it because Jean was with me? I shrugged the idea off without a second thought as I knew that Jean couldn’t possible like me back the way I had. 

That thought made it feel like my heart had shattered into a million pieces. I dropped back down onto my bed and just wanted to fall back asleep. All my happy thoughts were gone and I was left feeling cold inside. Marco you really are an idiot for thinking that he does like you. Firstly, Jean is the straightest person that I know. Secondly I really didn’t want to ruin are friendship and finally he was still my teacher. I let out a deep sign. I wanted to go back to my dream where me and Jean were together and went out places while holding each other’s hand.

“Wake up sleepyhead.” Jean said as I sat back up again. He let out a chuckle and I tilted my head. I got up and looked in the mirror in my room. I had the worst bedhead and I had been drooling. I quickly rubbed the drool off my chin and felt a blush rise up my neck.

“I’m up.” I mumbled as I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes again, began to brush my hair and started to drift back to sleep.

“Marco!” Jean called and caused me to jump slightly.

“I’m up.” I mumbled as I continued to brush my hair until it was ready. I didn’t know why I was so tired all of a sudden. Just a few minutes ago I felt wide awake and now I just wanted to crawl back under the warm cocoon of my bed and sleep forever. Maybe it’s so that I can get rid of this pain. I shrugged it off. I could handle it because soon the pain might go… hopefully.

“I’ve put the clothes that I borrowed on top of your drawers. Sorry for keeping them for so long.”

“It’s fine.” I let out a small sigh then smacked on the best smile that I could do even if it was forced. “What do you want for breakfast?”

“Ymir had made me some toast when I got up. No matter how hard I tried to wake you up, you wouldn’t.” Jean chuckled with an amazing smile that always seemed to make me feel better. I gave him a small smile.

“I’m going to get changed so if you don’t want to see anything then you might want to turn around.” I recommended. Jean’s entire face burst into a shade of red as he quickly turned around. I quickly got out a pair of comfy trousers and a thick sweater with a long sleeved top and my stripy boxers and changed into them. “I’m decent now.” I giggled softly as I dropped my pyjamas onto my bed. Jean swung back to face me.

“Thank god you warned me first. I don’t think I would know how to react if I saw your freckled ass.” Jean grinned. I grabbed a pillow and threw it at him. My neck and cheeks were warm.

“Jean!” I let out a giggle again and zipped my bag back up. Mum had put in the things that I wanted her to buy. Some notebooks, pens, folders, and some winter clothes.

“I’m going to go downstairs. Is it okay if I can put on the TV?” Jean asked.

“Yeah sure. I’ll be down in a bit.” I gave a slight smile and watched as Jean left the room. When I knew he was out of hearing range, I plummeted onto my bed and watched my ceiling. I gave out a deep sign and sniffled slightly. There was a lump in my throat that wouldn’t go away.

I’m such an idiot. I’m in love with my friend, who probably only sees me as only a friend, and I let my dad into the house so that mum would see him when she came home. I’m the worst son. Why did I let him in? I should have just left the door and not answered it again and none of this would have happened. Jean had to step in for me because I couldn’t do anything. I… I’m weak.

I didn’t realise that I was crying until I felt a light tickle against my ears. I brushed them off and buried my head into my pillow and let out a muffled wail. This sucks. When I get sad, I become depressed because I hardly even get sad. I couldn’t believe that I was crying when my friend was downstairs but I can’t stop. My pillow was getting drenched in lake-warm tears when it hit me.

I had known for a few months and I seemed to have gained a kid like crush on him when we had first met because of my beliefs. My crush seemed to grow up to a high school crush because of all the times we spent together. There was the time when we went to a café and Jean bought noodles and he slurped up the leftovers by lifting up the bowl to his lips. He had gotten some on his chin and I couldn’t hold back a giggle. There was the time when we were walking to Sina dorms after meeting up with Armin and he tripped over and we both burst into laughter. And all the times he talks about something interesting, his eyes light up like beautiful fireworks and I can’t help but gaze into them.

And then I realised that my crush wasn’t just a silly high school crush, I loved him to pieces and it hurt to think about it. I’d gotten him stuck into my dad problem and I can’t explain myself for slamming the door into Alex’s face and why I hate him so much it’s just… it’s hard to talk about. Maybe he might get the wrong idea but Jean hasn’t asked me about it. I guess a small part of me wants him to ask so I can get it off my chest.

I rolled off my bed and rubbed my now puffy checks and went to the bathroom to wash my face. I let the water run so that it would warm up a bit and dunked my head under the tap and let the water cascade down my face. It was almost calming. I grabbed a towel and dried my face. I observed myself in the mirror to make sure it didn’t look like I had cried and took a huge inhale. 

“I can do this.” I whispered to myself as I turned off the lights in the bathroom, walked into the lounge and sat next to him. The TV was playing adventure time but he didn’t seem to be watching it. Jean seemed to be glaring at the screen in deep thought. “You okay?” I asked.

“Yeah I’m fine.” Jean mumbled, “Just deep in thought.”

“Is there anything I can help with?”

“It could be.” Jean shrugged as he reached for the remote and turned off the TV. “You don’t have to answer this question if you don’t want to but why do you hate your dad so much?” I stared at Jean and my eyes widened.

“I-I ummm.”

“You don’t have to say anything.”

“No it’s okay.” I shook my head and took some deep breaths so I could calm my pounding heart. “Well I say anything without saying what my mum had told me too. And I’m telling you because I trust you and you’re one of my closest friends.

“Mum had met Alex, or my dad, when she was 15 and she told me that she let her guard down too soon and slept with him. She was pregnant with me and because of that she was shunned out of her family for underage pregnancy so she moved in with Alex. She told me she had me in the hospital nearby the house and she had to make her own way there because Alex wouldn’t help her at all. We were treat like dirt but we couldn’t do anything about it because we needed somewhere to be. Alex took me on a trip with him when I was 16 and I met James and another boy called Jean and stayed for a month. Back then I thought he was an okay guy for letting us stay with him and give us shelter. James told me something about his mum and I went to see Alex to find out more and I found him with another woman.” I took a deep breath to get rid of the lump in my throat. I carried on. “I… I ran to Jean and told him everything and I guess he called my mum because she came to get me straight away. I thought he was a good person but he was just playing with me and mum. She even told me when she was drunk once that she stayed because I seemed to be getting treat okay. When mum came, she had a massive argument with Alex and I guess something clicked in his empty skull of his. When we left with James, Alex just stared at the ground and I thought he was crying. I didn’t care anyway. He treat my mum like she meant nothing to him and he even slept around behind my mums back. I don’t care if he has a reason for it because he brought my mum pain. She was shunned out of her family and was used by him and we managed to persuade grandma to let us move in but she died last year so mum works a lot to pay the rent. She used to drink a lot. I think I get why she did.” I pressed my head against Jean’s chest and took deep breaths. She drank a lot because she regretted everything that she did and she was confused with what to do – I thought but I couldn’t say it out loud without the fear that I’ll start crying. “And now he had to come back. After all that time.” Jean wrapped his arms around me and the lump in my throat grew.

“It’s not your fault.”

Those simple words smashed through my barriers and before I knew it, I was clinging tightly to him and sobbing into his chest. Jean just stroked my hair lightly and hugged me back. My shoulders shook and I wailed loudly. Luckily my mum had gone to work and James wasn’t back yet so it was just me and Jean. I didn’t want to let go of him because I dreaded that if I did he would disappear. He kept whispering the words to me and I began to believe him. All the feelings of being to blame for my mum getting the worst that life could offer were disappearing with every word Jean said.

“Thank you.” I whispered as I pulled away and wiped the tears from my eyes. Under my eyes were red and puffy. “It looks like you’ve saved me from my darkness and brought me into the light. It’s beautiful.” I gave a bright smile. Just Jean being here feels like he’s saved me. If he wasn’t here… I don’t want to think about that.

“I feel like I knew that man from somewhere but my memories a bit fuzzy.” Jean admitted.

“You knew Alex.” My eyes widened. Were my thoughts from the start true?

“I think so but I don’t really remember.”

“How come?” I asked. I tried to sound not as curious as I felt.

“Well when we were moving, when I was 18 to go to another college and for my mum to change her job, we got into a car accident. I lost my dad and my memories are fuzzy from before the accident.” Jean told me calmly. 

“S-sorry.” I stuttered.

“It’s fine. It doesn’t really bother me that much. It did before but it doesn’t anymore. Well it does annoy me when Eren starts to bring it up.” Jean glared at the black screen of the TV. “I met Eren, Mikasa and Armin when I moved and that’s how we know each other now. James kept in touch with me but he’s no help about me finding out about the past. We graduated quickly and they asked us if we wanted to work for them when we finished. Mikasa dropped out and became a dorm lady and me, Eren and Armin skipped a year. Looks like the college couldn’t handle how smart I was.” He grinned. I had to hold myself back from dropping into his arms and squishing the life out of him.

I think I’ve found him and this time I really believe it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was extra long and I didn't want to stop writing it so I did two chapters worth for this  
> I might not be able to update as soon as I have been as I need to do some revision for my exams that are pretty close and I want to do more revising. My exams finish on the 19th and if I don't upload it before then, then I'll make it as long as this one
> 
> Thanks for reading this and if you have any questions just ask me on tumblr with the tag 'fic:that fated day' or you can just comment what you think, your opinion is much appreciated no matter what it is as it can help me improve this and make it good
> 
> See you in the next chapter


	6. spending more time together

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter is finally out and because I couldn't stop writing it there is loads more than the last chapter XD  
> I still don't own any of this except the plot and I will warn you that by the end of the chapter something happens between freckled Jesus and horse-face that's 16+ and I felt like I wanted to warn you
> 
> So I've warned you and I'm glad I did :D

I drove us back with worst case scenario by the Hoosiers, I have recently become addicted to, playing at full blast. Jean was asleep in the passenger seat and I couldn’t help but think back to when he came into my room and snuggled up to me. It was clear that he didn’t want to talk about it. I thought about how he let me cry and he didn’t laugh at me when I opened my heart to him.

I shook my head and listened to the song more. It felt like it was a song about Jean because he always fell asleep when we were in the car and he always seemed to rant about how much he hated Eren’s guts. Jean didn’t smile often but when he did it was beautiful and made me feel tingly inside with a pit full of fluttering butterflies. I glanced at him for a bit and I couldn’t help but admire him. He had been in a car crash and told me. Jean listened to me talk about my past and even let me cry into his top until it was soaked.

I’m so lucky to have him as a friend.

We reached the parking lot just as another song started playing. It was a song that my mum used to play when she was little and she played it to me when I was little. I’ve listened to it every now and then. It was called fly me to the moon by Frank Sinatra. Mum played that song when she could and she told me that great-grandma had given it to her for one of her birthdays and she loved it. Mum even told me that great-grandma had gotten it from great-grandpa so it was like a present that would be passed down the generations and even joked about my grandchildren listening to it.

I turned to Jean after turning off the engine and gave him a light shake to wake him up. He opened one of his eyes and gazed at me. “Good morning sleepyhead.” I beamed as he slowly undid his seatbelt and rubbed the back of his neck.

“My neck kills.” He moaned as he gave a big yawn.

“It would be because of the way you’ve been sleeping for so long.” I giggled as I undid my seatbelt, got out the car and took our stuff from the boot. I passed Jean his bag and locked the car when we were ready to head back to the dorms. We already had our lunch, McDonalds, before we came back so it was now around 4o’clock. We just talked about some English while Jean marked peoples work.

We made a beeline to my room and dropped on my bed. My phone buzzed and it was a text from Connie.

Hey Bud! Don’t expect me to be in the dorms early coz me and Sasha are going on a date. Wish me luck!!

I sent him a quick message that said ‘okay have fun’ and slid my phone back into my pocket.

“Who was that?” Jean asked me curiously.

“It was Connie. He wanted me to know that he wasn’t going to be here until later today.”

“Okay.” Jean nodded his head slightly. After a few beats of silence, Jean turned to face me. “Do you want to come to mine tonight then? I mean I did stay at yours so it would make sense for me to invite you to mine. You don’t have to if you don’t want to.” Jean said at lightning speed and it took me a few moments to take in everything he had just said. I felt my cheeks heat up and I quickly shaked my head.

“Sorry Jean. I have college in the morning.”

“So do I and you’re in my first lesson so we can go together.”

“Fine then.” I giggled. Two sleepovers with my English teacher and best friend in a row. I bet no one would have thought that that was possible.

“Then it’s sorted. What do you want to do while we’re here?” Jean smirked.

“I was going to have a quick snack and play on Skyrim.” I dropped my bag onto my bed and emptied out the clothes that I wore yesterday and scattered them onto the floor at his side of the room. Jean glared at them and I chuckled sheepishly. 

“You’re are the fuckin’ messiest person I know.”

“Is that I compliment?” I winked at Jean, “I can’t believe you want to stay with me more after being around me for more than two days.”

“I love being around you.” Jean smirked and I couldn’t stop my cheeks from getting warmer. 

“Thanks Jean. I really enjoy being around you too.” I managed to muster and held back the urge to wrap my arms around him and plant a kiss on his lips. I grabbed my favourite red sweater, which was draped on my bed, and gave it a quick sniff. Yeah that’ll be fine for tomorrow. I dropped it into my bag and Jean turned to me with his eyes widened.

“I cannot believe you just did that.” Jean’s smile widened, “That’s gross man.”

“It smells fine so it’ll be okay. Most of my stuff need washing and I really like this sweater. My great-grandma knitted it for my birthday last year.” I reasoned and playfully nudged Jean who nudged me back.

Soon after we ended up on the floor in a fit of laughter. Jean had pushed me a little too hard and I fell off the bed and gripped at his shirt and dragged him down with me. I wiped the tears from my eyes from laughing too much and rolled towards Jean and my eyes got snatched up in his beautiful chestnut ones. The more I looked into them, I could see the specs of different colours that made them more mesmerising.

I quickly pulled my eyes away so that I didn’t pull him towards me, give him a kiss and hug him tightly. Jean got himself up after calming down and reached his hand out to me. I accepted it with a smile and he heaved me up but he pulled me too quick and we fell backwards onto the bed and my head dug into his neck. My eyes widened as I rolled off him with burning cheeks. Jean burst into laughter when I glanced at him.

“You should see your face!” Jean grinned, “You look so stupid.”

“Don’t you mean beautiful.” I winked and couldn’t help but laugh with him. I loved these moments when Jean and I were having a good time and just being able to joke about silly things.

“Come on we should get going. I’m going to make you the best tea that you will ever have.” Jean helped me up and we made our way out of the dorms. It took a few minutes to get there but we made it. Jeans house was in an apartment complex on the third floor. “Guess who owns all this floor.”

“Who?” I teased.

“Me of course.” He smirked as he unlocked the door, “All the savings I’ve been forced to do have really helped.” Jean took off his shoes, placed them on the mat and hung his coat and scarf up. I followed suit and we walked into the lounge. The place wasn’t too big but there were lots of rooms.

“Must have been tough.” I giggled.

“Yeah it was. I put my own sweat and blood into it and I still need to pay for the bills which is shit. I’ll go make tea. I think it’ll be pasta but I’m not sure.”

“I’m fine with anything.” I smiled and Jean nodded his head in thought.

“You can put the TV on while you wait.” Jean left the room and headed into another. I dropped onto the sofa and tried to calm my pacing heart. I was in Jean’s house and I was sitting in his lounge.

Marco, you need to get a grip – I told myself. You are just sleeping over at his like he did at yours. It’s not that strange. I pulled out my notepad and started to write some notes from my lessons to keep my mind off things that were prodding their way in.

I switched on the TV and changed the channel onto a program called supernatural. Reiner had got me watching it and I was now an addict of the show. However, I was just staring at the screen and thinking about Jean. Even if I only knew him for a few months, and a month as a teen, I’d somehow fallen head over heads for him. In lessons I enjoyed listening to him talk about the writing techniques and going over what we needed to know. Outside of college, I enjoyed going to cafes with him while he checked peoples work and talked about random things that were going on.

The programme changed and I realised that I had been deep in thought. I let out a wishful sigh with a crooked smile. Even if Jean was a teacher, I couldn’t help but fall deeper in love with him the more I got to know about him. Mum had said that no one was perfect but Jean was for me. I loved everything he did. From the way his eyebrows knotted together when he was deep in concentration to when he buys loads to eat and gobbles it all down.

I let out another small sign and dropped my head onto the soft pillow on the sofa. Jean came in the room again with a smug smile on his face. “Dinner is ready and it will be the best pasta carbonara you have ever had.” Jean gazed at me as I got up and lead me to the kitchen with a dining table at the end of the room. On the table was two plates of steaming pasta and it looked delicious. I sat at one of the seats and Jean sat opposite me. I took a spoonful of the creamy pasta and swallowed. My eyes widened in amazement. It tasted amazing and maybe even god like.

“Jean this is incredible. I love it.” I quickly took another spoonful and gave a wide smile.

“I knew you would like it.” Jean smirked as he wolfed down his portion.

“Thanks.” I giggled, “This really is the best meal I’ve ever had.” Jean’s eyes widened slightly and his cheeks seemed to go to a light shade of pink. I let it slide with a smile and Jean grinned back at me.

When we had finished, I had rested my head against the table. “You shouldn’t have eaten that much.” Jean laughed as he stacked our plates up and placed them in the dish washer.

“But it was so good that I couldn’t stop.” I grinned as I gulped down my water so that the food would stay down.

“Then you gotta pay the consequences.” Jean smirked as I hold my stomach like it was a baby. “You had more than three helpings. I didn’t know my cooking was that good.”

“It is. You are amazing. I can’t cook anything.”

“That’s not true.” Jean beamed, “I’ve had your cooking and it tastes good. I remember when you made the cake in a mug thing and it was really fucking delicious.”

“It can’t have been that good but I can make them again if you want.”

“You bet I want you to make that again.” Jean grinned widely and I had to stop myself from pulling him towards my and wrapping my arms around him. Jean was full of excitement with a huge grin and I couldn’t help but smile back.

“Okay I will.” I laughed happily. A part of me was glad he wanted me to make it again but another small part felt like I was going to mess it up. “But after I recover.” Jean chuckled and nodded his head.

“I’m going to go to the lounge. The bathroom is the door that you see first when you leave the kitchen.”

“Thanks.” I smiled with gratitude as Jean left the room. I went into the bathroom and used the toilet. My stomach was killing me and I was stuffed. I really wanted to make Jean the cake in a mug but the sight of food made me want to puke. I washed my hands and observed myself in the mirror. My hair had gotten longer and now my bangs were brushing the tops of my eyebrows. I should really get it cut soon – I thought as I dried my hands on one of the towels and made my way to the lounge.

Jean was talking to someone on the phone and seemed to not notice me. The TV show was playing ‘The Chase’. Jean gave a chuckle and a felt a ping in my heart. The feeling didn’t feel right and I defiantly didn’t like it. I know I was just acting like a baby who wanted all the attention from the one they loved and that it wasn’t fair for me to want them all to myself but I couldn’t get rid of the feeling in my chest.

Before Jean noticed me, I quickly left the room to calm myself down. Marco, you are such an idiot, I told myself, Jean can talk to whoever he wants and you don’t need to get so pervasive about him. He is only human and he probably only likes you as a friend. Jean’s a teacher for crying out loud! I took a deep breath in to try and get rid of the lump that I had caused to appear in my throat and held back the tears that were trying to escape. Jean couldn’t be with me because it was against the rules and I’m a student. His student. I should have known that this wouldn’t have worked out before I even tried.

I let out a deep sign and put on a forced smile and walked into the lounge yet again. Jean had changed the channel and was no watching a recording of ‘Supernatural’. He turned to face me and grinned at me. I sat next to him on the sofa and held back a sigh. “What’s up?” Jean asked me.

“The sky.” I giggled lightly as I tried to get comfy.

“I know that.” Jean gave a huff of annoyance, “what I meant was, are you okay?” My eyes widened slightly for a split second.

“I’m fine Jean.” I forced a smile on my face to convince him that I was okay but Jean wasn’t convinced.

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

Silence came between us and it felt awkward. Luckily my ringtone broke the silence. I slid it out from my pocket to see that Reiner was calling me. “Can I answer this?” I asked Jean who nodded his head. I pressed the green button and answered the call. “Hi Reiner.”

“Hey, Marco do you know where Connie is?” Reiner asked.

“He’s with Sasha. Why?” 

“Well we might need your help.”

“What happened?”

“Bertholdt’s stuck in the wardrobe and I can’t get him out.”

“What! How did he get stuck in there?” My voice rose in shock. What had they been doing to do that?

“Well we were playing hide and seek and it was my turn to count so Bertholdt hid in the wardrobe but he can’t get out.”

“Why were you playing hide and seek?”

“It’s a good game man and I wanted to play it.” Reiner chuckled.

“Are you drunk?” My eyebrows rose in slight shock.

“Maybe.” Reiner laughed louder.

“Okay I’ll come over just give me a second.” I giggled.

“Right! I’ll see you around.”

“I’ll only be there for a bit though.”

“How come?”

“Staying over at Jean’s.”

“Don’t do anything naughty.” I felt my cheeks blush a deep red after Reiner spoke those words.

“Reiner!” I squeaked quietly with embarrassment. Reiner just burst into laughter.

“He can come too if he wants.”

“I’ll ask.” I turned to Jean. “Do you want to come with me? Need to get Bertholdt out of the wardrobe.” Jean nodded his head but the look of shock on his face made me giggle. I went back to the phone call. “Yeah he will.”

“Sweet. See you soon.” Reiner hung up and I put my phone back in my pocket. 

“Why is Bertholdt stuck in a wardrobe?”

“Don’t ask.” I giggled as Jean rose an eyebrow in confusion. We headed to the door and pulled on our coats, shoes, scarfs and hats to brave to cold walk to the dorms.

When we finally got there, I made a beeline to Reiner and Bertholdt’s bedroom. Reiner was laughing his head off and Bertholdt was sweating slightly in the wardrobe. The clothes that used to be in it were now scattered all over the floor. By the looks of things they were both pissed.

“Why are you two drunk on a college night?” I asked. Bertholdt glanced at Reiner and I instantly knew what the answer was. Jean and I helped to get Bertholdt out of the wardrobe and put everything away then they both did something that we didn’t expect to happen. They began to make out.

I quickly left the room to give them some privacy and quickly left the room with my scarf loosely around my neck and my unbuttoned coat that hung on my shoulders. Jean followed suit and gave me my boots so that I could put them on. I locked the door and sent Connie a warning message.

“Do you have to deal with that a lot?” Jean smirked as I nodded my head. “Sucks to be you.”

“Yeah.”

We got back to Jean house and Connie decided to crash at one of his friend’s house for the night. I headed into the kitchen and began to make the cakes in a mug. Jean passed me two cups. One was a superman cup and the other was a white cup with black spots all over it. I got the ingredients I needed and washed my hands. “Do you want to help?” I asked Jean. He got off the chair he had been sitting on.

“Yeah sure. We should have a competition on who can make the best. I’ll make yours and you’ll make mine.”

“Sure.” I giggled as I took the superman cup and put in the ingredients. I had settled for a chocolate cake while Jean seemed to be making a strawberry cake. We placed the mixtures into the microwave for a bit then took them out when they looked ready. Jean grabbed a knife and got out the spongy food and cut it in half. He placed one back in and then added wiped cream and a few cut up strawberries then added the last layer. I considered doing that but instead I just added wiped cream on the top because the middle of the cake was runny. The cake had taken me a long time to complete with the help of my mum and it was one of the few things I could make without burning it.

We swapped mugs and got a spoon each. After washing the dishes and putting everything away, we went back into the lounge. Jean was the first to try his and by the looks of things, he enjoyed it. He gobbled every last bit and licked the chocolaty spoon until there was none left. “That will always be the best pudding.” Jean grinned as he put the mug onto the coffee table.

“Thanks.” I giggled, “I’m glad you like it.”

“Now you try yours.” Jean grinned as I took a spoonful of cake, cream and strawberries. I ate it and my eyes widened in amazement. It was amazing. The lightness of the sponge with the bitterness of the strawberries and the sweetness of the cream made the cake taste wonderful. Normally I ate my food slowly but I couldn’t help but wolf it all down until it was all gone. “That good?” Jean smirked as I nodded my head quickly.

“It was amazing. You could totally be a chief.”

“I wish.” Jean smiled softly. He got up off the sofa and took the cups with the spoons to the kitchen. I dropped sideways onto the sofa and laid there for a while. Many thoughts were swimming in my mind but I couldn’t grasp any of them. Suddenly my phone rang again, this time it was Connie, and I picked it up.

“Hey Connie. What is it?”

“Heard you were at Jean’s. How’s it going over there?”

“Fine. Did Reiner tell you that?”

“Yeah he did. He also told me to ring to see if you weren’t up to anything naughty.” Connie chuckled. I let out a small sigh.

“When did he ring?” I asked curiously.

“Just a few minutes ago.”

“Was it awkward?”

“Defiantly.” Connie burst into a fit of laughter and I giggled as well. “I can’t believe that Bertholdt is with him. I’m going to dread being in our dorm in the future.”

“You said it.” I grinned, “Although I had a feeling they were.”

“To be honest they are always together so it does make sense but it doesn’t sit right for me, you know?”

“Yeah I do.” I gave a soft giggle then rested my head on one of the pillows, “They are a good couple though.”

“Hell yeah they are!” I heard Connie yell and a “shhhh” came and straight after was a muffled “sorry” from Connie.

“I thought you were at Sam’s and not Sasha’s.” I gave a small smile as I heard a sharp gasp from the other line.

“Well I planned to but Sam cancelled on me so Sasha asked if I wanted to crash at hers so I did.” Connie bumbled rapidly after a few beats of silence.

“Are you sure you didn’t plan at the start. You didn’t tell me who it was you were staying at.” I could hear whispering on the other line and I knew I had caught him red handed.

“Fine I did and Sasha asked so it’s fine.” I heard Connie huff. I couldn’t help but giggle and soon enough both of us were laughing and after a while we were just laughing at one another. 

“I’ve bet you’ve slept with her.” I wiped a tear out of my eye from laughing too hard.

“Got a problem with that?” Connie chuckled.

“Of course not. You two are a perfect couple. I’ve got to go.”

“Yeah. You have fun with your lover boy.”

“Connie! He’s my teacher.”

“So? Levi pulled his teacher a long time ago.”

“Really?!”

“Yeah. It’s Eren, the German teacher. Mikasa isn’t so keen on Levi but everyone knows that Eren and Levi are together. No one has done anything about it.”

“Oh yeah. At the party they were holding hands and snuggling up together.”

“I would say that Eren is the submissive one in this relationship.” I could tell that Connie was grinned at that from the other line.

“Connie I think Reiner is having an effect on you.”

“You think?”

“I know so. Bye.”

“See you tomorrow.” Connie replied before I hung up and put my phone down. Jean still hadn’t come back so I got up and headed towards the kitchen where I could tell that someone was baking something.

“Jean what are you doing?” I asked and he gave a slight jump and turned to face me.

“Armin’s birthday is on Tuesday so I’m making him a cake. Mikasa asked me to make one for the surprise party that we were going to throw for him.”

“I’m guessing you have a crush on Mikasa. You normally never do what anyone asks.” I walked closer to Jean who was mixing the cake mixture together. I couldn’t get rid of the aching feeling in my chest.

“N-no! I used to but not anymore.” Jean blushed strongly and dropped the whisk into the mixture. He carefully pulled it out so that his hands didn’t get any dirtier then they already were. I gave a small smile but it felt a little forced. “You can come to the party with me.” Jean changed the subject quickly and I gladly accepted it.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. Armin likes you and you can give him his presents at the party. It’s this Friday.” Jean explained to me, “I could bring someone with me and I wanted you to come.” Jean’s words echoed in my mind and I felt my neck get hotter.

“I-I’d love to.” I stuttered.

“Great.” Jean beamed as he got back to work.

“What are you making?”

“An apple and almond cake. No pun intended.” Jean grinned.

“That sounds delicious.” I beamed.

“And it’ll taste it too.” Jean joked. We both burst into laughter. I had never laughed so much in one day but today I seemed to be laughing at everything.

“Do you need any help?”

“Can you get me the tin?” He asked. I passed him it. The tin was ready to put the ingredients in so Jean placed the cut up apples on the base then spooned the mixture into the tin. He put it in the oven for half an hour.

“How come you’re making the cake now?” I asked curiously.

“Well I haven’t made this in ages so I wanted to see how it turned out. You can try some if you want. I was going to take it with me tomorrow and give it to the others as well.”

“You bet.” I grinned as we went back into the lounge to watch a bit of TV, “Your cooking is amazing.” I quickly stopped myself from telling Jean that everything he made for me was astounding because that would have been too embarrassing and I probably would have died by my heart beating too fast.

“Thanks.” Jean scratched the back of his neck. He did this when he was embarrassed or lost for words. I sent him a smile and he smiled back. It took me my entire will to not grab onto his empty hand.

At ten the cake was in the fridge in a plastic container and Jean and I were sipping on cups of hot chocolate in the kitchen. I told him about Connie and Sasha and how Reiner had called Connie when we had left. We joked about how my mum was crushing on Krista and how Armin seemed to spend more time at the bookstore than we any of us.

I let out a yawn and looked at the clock. We had been talking for an hour! Jean laughed lightly as he realised it too. “We should go to bed.” Jean took my empty cup and placed his and mine by the sink. I nodded my head and after getting my bag, he led me to one of the bedrooms that was next to his room. “You can sleep in this room if you want. I’ll be in the next room if you need anything. You know where the bathroom and call me if you need anything.” I quickly nodded my head and when Jean left the room. I dropped on the bed. All the energy had drained out of me and I was close to falling asleep the way I was.

Before I did fall asleep, I rolled off the bed and changed into my pyjamas. I got my toothbrush and toothpaste and brushed my teeth in the bathroom. After washing my face, I went back upstairs and snuggled into my bed. I hadn’t expected to be staying at Jean’s and the fact that everyone was teasing me about my relationship with him made me wonder if I was being too obvious.

My mind played back to the time when Jean came into my room at night to sleep with me and I found myself getting up and going to his room. I stood at his door with my hand ready to knock on the door. My heart was racing and my stomach was in knots. How was I supposed to tell him that I was up when he came to sleep in my bed?!

I couldn’t.

I gave up and dropped my hand back to my side and headed back to my room but before I could walk in, I saw Jean from around the corner and it felt like my heart had just skipped a beat. I took a deep breath and gazed at Jean. 

I could do this and I will.

“Jean.” I began, “Are you scared of horror films?”

“What if I was?”

“Well you snuck into my bed when you slept at mine and I shouldn’t have brought this up but it’s bugging me.” I rapidly told him. I felt like my cheeks were the colour of the stop sign on traffic lights. Jean was beet red too.

“You were up.” I heard Jean muttered nervously. He rested his hand on his head and ran it through his blond hair.

“I was. I didn’t know how to react in all honesty.”

“You should have told me! I wouldn’t have been so weird. Man I feel like such a fucking idiot.”

“I didn’t mind.” The words tumbled out of my mouth before I could stop. I covered my mouth with widened eyes. I had blown it now and I could tell. Jean’s eyes widened too and his mouth gaped open. I felt like digging myself into a hole and dying. This was the worst. I could even feel my ears burning up. “I-I’m going to sleep. N-night.” I hurried into the room, closed the door behind me, pulled the sheets to cover myself and let out a soft moan of humiliation. I felt like I had messed up big time. Why had I said that?! Sometimes I didn’t understand myself sometimes. I sunk further under the blankets and somehow managed to fall asleep.

 

I woke up to the smell of bacon and eggs. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and clambered out of the cocoon of warmth and into the ice cold room. I quickly got changed into my clothes for today which consisted of a pair of dark blue harem pants and two tops (one was a red three-quarter length and the other was a black short-sleeved top) that was in my bag. I shoved in my pyjamas and the clothes that were scattered on the floor and placed the bag by the door and walked into the kitchen to see Jean had just finished making breakfast.

“I tried to wake you up ten times and you wouldn’t wake up.” Jean smirked at me as he placed the plates of hot food on the table. I gave a wide yawn.

“I’m still soooo tired. I wish I didn’t have to go to college.”

“Me too but we don’t get our own way.” Jean joined me at the table and we began to eat our breakfast. It tasted superb; just like everything Jean made.

“I love this.”

“You love everything I make. If I made you a cup noodle you would love it.” Jean teased.

“Of course I would. I would love everything you made me.” I grinned and took another spoonful of pouched egg and bacon.

“Really?” Jean seemed to go a little pink as I nodded my head and continued to eat my food until I realised what I had just said. I swallowed the lump in my throat and tried to stop my cheeks from getting any hotter than they already felt. “Thanks. I’ll teach you to cook if you want.”

“You sure?” I asked. I couldn’t help but look at him with eyes bursting of excitement.

“Yeah. You’ll be having the one and only Jean Kirstein helping you cook.”

“I can’t wait.” I giggled as I helped Jean wash the plates. I slipped on my shoes and we headed back to the college. We parted ways so that I could quickly run to my room and get my rucksack for lessons.

At lunch Jean gave everyone, except Eren, a piece of cake and Sasha tried to sneak off with three pieces. Armin was talking about a girl from the bookstore who he had fallen for with Eren and Mikasa and Connie and Sasha were re-enacting a scene from the avengers. I was talking to Krista about the play that was coming in a few weeks. Krista had made most of the outfits for it and only had two left to do.

 

Friday had finally come and Jean turned up at my door to get me. I was wearing a blue shirt with my red sweatshirt and a pair of my black harem pants. I slipped on my trainers and Reiner ruffled with my hair before I opened the door. “Good luck and don’t do anything silly?” He smirked.

“I won’t.” I giggled. Connie ran into the room and grinned at me.

“Have fun!”

“I will.” I giggled and opened the door. Jean was messing with his hair with his coat buttoned up and a black scarf wrapped around his neck.

“You coming?” Jean grinned. A warm feeling grew in my stomach and I smiled back.

“Yep.” I turned and waved to Reiner, Bertholdt and Connie. I picked up the party bag with the presents from Armin.

“Stay safe.” Bertholdt waved.

“I will.” I giggled and I closed the door. “What’s going on?”

“Well the party is at Jaeger’s so Mikasa is keeping him busy with this girl he found from the bookstore until we’re ready.” Jean explained as we entered the lift to the bottom floor.

“Okay.” I smiled.

“I need to go get the cake. You can go to the party or do you want to come with me?”

“I’ll come with you.”

“You’ve got to help my carry everything then.”

“Okay.” I giggled as we went into the direction of Jean’s house.

 

When we finally made it to Armin’s house, it was 7. We went inside and took our shoes, coats and scarves off and hung them up in the porch. As soon as we went into the lounge, Eren ran up to us. “You’re late.” He hissed. Jean set the cake on the cake stand and I laid the bag next to all the other presents. 

“I needed to get the cake that you were so despite for.” Jean murmured with a scowl.

“Mikasa texted me that she’s coming back.” A girl, with her hair in two ponytails, told and Jean and Eren pulled me behind the sofa. The girl turned off the lights and soon after we heard the front door open.

“Surprise!” We all jumped up as Armin turned on the lights to the lounge. He jumped back in surprise with a cry and soon after a smile grow across his face. “Happy birthday 3 days ago!”

“Thanks guys.” Armin beamed, “You’re amazing.” I glanced at the girl who was talking to Mikasa. It was Annie. When everyone started to get drinks, I walked up to her.

“Hi Annie. I didn’t know you would be here.”

“I talk to Armin a lot so I was invited here. He’s a good guy.” Annie shrugged as she brushed a bit of her hair out of her eyes.

“What did you get him?”

“I gave him one of the books in the bookstore that he wanted. He wouldn’t stop going on about it.”

“Was it the mythology books?”

“Yeah but I got him the last one because you bought the first two. It was fucking expensive.” Annie moaned.

“Yeah. Luckily I had just enough to get it.” I giggled. I glanced over at Jean to see that he was taking shots with Eren. It looked like they were seeing who could drink the most.

“I think you like that horseface.”

“Jean? Y-yeah I do but I can’t be with him because he’s my teacher.” I blushed. Annie chuckled.

“It’s too obvious.” Annie pointed out bluntly.

“R-really?” My blush grew rapidly.

“Yeah.” Annie stopped what she was going to say just as Armin came over. “Happy birthday Armin.” She said with a small smile.

“Thanks.” Armin giggled, “It gave me a bit of a shock when everyone jumped up. Thanks for sticking around.”

“It’s fine.” Annie pulled her hair out of her eyes and I left to leave the two to their conversation. I perched on the sofa where another boy sat. He had short blond hair and light brown eyes. The boy wore a simple black beetle’s shirt and a pair of grey skinny jeans. He turned to face me when he realised I was gazing in his direction.

“Hey I think I recognise you from somewhere.” The boy began. I tilted my head slightly. “I’m Thomas Wagner. I was in your summer school last year.” My eyes widened in surprise as I remembered who it was.

“Oh my god! It’s been a while Thomas. How’s it been?”

“It’s been fine. Got loads of work to do in history though.”

“Sorry I couldn’t remember.” I giggled softly, “How come you’re here?”

“I’m a friend of Annie’s and I met Armin through her. Armin’s a good guy.”

“Yeah.” I nodded as I shuffled up closer. “I know Armin from my brother and he teaches me maths.”

“He really wasn’t lying then.” Thomas grinned, “He actually got in a year early. That’s awesome.”

“Yeah it is but not as amazing as Eren. When I knew him from school I thought he wouldn’t going to be a teacher but he proved everyone wrong.”

“Maybe he got Mikasa to help him out.” Thomas imputed.

“Maybe.” I giggled and we both burst into laughter.

Before we could say anything else, Jean rushed over to use and pushed himself in-between us. “Hey Marco I was looking for you.” He slurred.

“Jean you’re drunk.” I giggled, “How did you get drunk so fast?”

“Jaeger dared me on a drinking challenge and there is no way that I’m saying no to him.”

“Did you win?” Thomas asked and received a glare from Jean.

“I’m just going to get a drink.” I said as I got up, “Do you want anything?”

“No I’m fine.” Thomas grinned and began talking to Jean who seemed like he not pleased with being stuck with him.

I wondered into the lounge through the thick groups of people and reached for a can of fosters. Someone tapped me on the shoulder and I turned to see Krista. “Hi Krista.” I smiled.

“Hi Marco. Where’s Jean?”

“He’s in the lounge.”

“Oh okay. I just thought that you would be with him that’s all.”

“Did Annie tell you anything?”

“No Ymir did.” Krista giggled, “She’s on the roof right now. I’m here to get us some drinks.”

“Wait my mum’s here?!” My voice raised in shock. It went quite for a few beats and everything went back as normal even if I was a blushing mess.

“Yeah.” Krista grinned, “I invited her and she’s not much of a party person so we went on the roof.”

“Okay. Tell her I said hi.” I tell Krista who nodded and went back upstairs with the drinks for her and my mum. Why did my mum have to be here? I moaned and turned the corner just as someone ran straight into me. “S-sorry.” I stuttered as I backed away.

“You should be.” I ruff voice muttered until they looked at me.

“Jean you’re so mean.” I pretended to act hurt.

“Sorry dude. I was looking to see where you where since you were taking forever.”

“I was only gone for five minutes.” I chuckled.

“It’s still felt like a long time and having to put up with that Thomas guy was a pain. I don’t get why you were talking to him.”

“Jealous?” I teased as I nudged him lightly on the shoulder.

“So what if I am.” Jean scowled deeply. He had left me speechless and blushing like a tomato. I needed some fresh air. I wasn’t entirely sure Jean said, because he strung his words too much, what I thought but he suddenly took my hand and led me outside. We sat down on the small wall that parted the path from the grass.

“How come we’re outside?”

“You looked too hot so I took you outside.”

“Okay.” I giggled. A few beats of silence came and Jean almost fell off the wall. “You are so drunk.”

“You need to get drunk too. I feel like a fucking idiot if I’m the only one who’s drunk.”

“Fine.” I rolled my eyes and gave a small smile.

“Okay. I’ll go get you some.” Jean grinned as he slowly made his way back the kitchen. I looked up at the dark sky witch swarmed with stars. A voice called my name and I turned to find out where the voice came from. It was my mum.

“Mum how come you’re here?” I asked as I looked up at my mum sitting on the roof.

“Krista, my guardian angel, invited me so I couldn’t not go.”

“Where is she?”

“Went to get me another beer?”

“Not much of a party person, are you?” I joked. Mum threw me a look and burst into laughter.

“Guess I’m not.” Mum smirked and turned when Krista joined her. I looked down to see Jean with a few bottles of beer in his hand.

“Do you want me to drink all of those? I’ll wet myself for drinking so much.” I smirked. Jean passed me one of them. I drank some of the nasty liquid and because of the silence, I realised I had downed the entire thing. I gave a couple coughs because the foul aftertaste in my mouth.

“You drink way too fast.” Jean smirked.

“You can talk.” I giggled and leaned against him. I felt him tense but he relaxed and leaned against me too. I smiled softly. If only this feeling in the pit of my stomach could last forever.

“Of course I can.” Jean chuckled, “I’m doing it now.”

“Not like that silly.” I playfully elbowed him playfully. He returned the gesture.

After a few more playful elbows and pushes, I pushed Jean a little too hard so he started to fall backwards. I grabbed his hand but he pulled me down with him. When I un-scrunched my eyes, Jean was underneath me. I blushed wildly. If anyone saw us like this then I would be screwed. The only sound that I could hear was the pounding of my heart. I stared into his chestnut eyes and I found myself stuck in a trance. My gut tightened and knotted up like a rope that had gotten all tangled together.

Before I could stand back up, Jean pulled my closer to him and our lips clashed. Even if it was a few seconds, it felt like a lifetime had passed by. I quickly stood up when he pulled away. I helped Jean up but I found that I couldn’t look at him in the eyes without a flashback of what had happened. 

“I-I’m going to get a drink.” I mumbled as I hurried back inside and through the masses of people. I couldn’t stop my throbbing chest from hurting and stop my entire face becoming a deep shade of red. I got a cup and filled it with some water from the jug and sat down. After taking a sip, I immediately scrunched my nose. I had got vodka instead of water! Because I didn’t want it to go to waste I decided to drink it all. 

I put the empty cup in the sink and proceeded back to the lounge where an intense game of beer pong. Eren and Thomas were up against Armin and Mikasa. Mikasa was a pro at this because only a few minutes passed and Eren and Thomas had lost. Eren looked pissed off and Armin was grinning like the Cheshire cat because he had won. Eren turned to see me and waved me over. “Can you do me a favour?” Eren slurred.

“Yeah sure.” I beamed. It could help me get my mind off of what had happened earlier today.

“Can you go to the shop and get some more drinks? We’re running out.” Eren asked as he handed me 30 pounds.

“Where’s the store?” I asked Eren because I didn’t know my way around this part of town yet.

“Mikasa can take you.” Eren shrugged his shoulders slightly, “I’m going to look for Levi.”

“Okay.” I smiled slightly as he left. I turned to Mikasa.

“Let’s go.” She said and we made our way to the store. I pulled my scarf tighter so that I wasn’t as cold and we entered the alcohol store. We bought some more beer and Mikasa got some drinks. I gave the money to Mikasa because I forgot my ID. We went outside and decided to sit on the bench nearby.

“Do you like Jean?” Mikasa broke the silence. My mouth opened but no words came out. I blush crawled up my neck until my entire face was like a tomato.

“Y-yes.” I crooked out, “B-but don’t tell Jean. I don’t think he likes me the way I do.” I added hurriedly. Mikasa just nodded slightly.

“I won’t.”

 

It was 10 when I opened the door for Mikasa because she had insisted on carrying it all of the alcohol. Jean was by the door and as soon as he saw me, he pounced on me and caused me to fall backwards. My eyes widened as I heard a sniffle. “I thought you had left me.” Jean cried, “Why’d you take so long?”

“I was helping Eren get some drinks for the party because they were running out.” I told Jean as we got up. Jean was acting strange. Maybe it was because of all the alcohol that had gone to his head. I felt people’s staring at us and my eyes began to dart around the room.

“Stop staring you fuckers!” Jean yelled and grabbed my hand to pull me upstairs. He led me into one of the rooms and closed the door behind him. He turned on the lights and I realised that we were in someone’s bedroom. It was full of football posters. Jean sat down on the simple double bed that was by the window. I followed suit and sat next to him.

“How come we’re upstairs?” I asked and Jean scratched the back of his neck.

“Well...” Jean began. His cheeks gained a pink hue as he gulped. “I wanted to tell you something without anyone else around.” I blinked rapidly as I processed what he said.

“S-sure.” I stuttered, “What is it?”

“Marco. I… I think I… You and I… Fuck this is embarrassing! Marco, I_”

“Marco!” A voice interrupted Jean. Before I could get up, Jean grabbed my arm. I gazed at him and rose an eyebrow.

“Don’t leave.” Jean told me. I sat back down on the bed. Jean opened his mouth but before he could say anything, the door was slammed open and Eren was there. Jean gave a tsk as his eyebrows knotted together in annoyance.

“There you are Marco. We were going to play ‘I never’ with everyone. Krista has convinced Ymir to play with us and horseface is playing too.” Eren grabbed my arm and dragged me along. I turned to face Jean and saw that he was glaring at Eren.

We made it downstairs and the amount of people had dropped. We entered a quit lounge and sat on one of the free sofas. On the glass table was a bunch of alcoholic drinks and empty shot glasses. The people in the room was: Annie, Armin, Mikasa, Eren, Levi, mum, Krista, Jean and I. “Right for those of you who don’t know how to play ‘I never’. I will explain the rules.” Eren said, “Every person takes turns making a true statement in the form of “I’ve never…” So I would say, “I’ve never been to Paris.” Anyone who has been to Paris will drink. But we won’t talk about holidays, we’ll talk about embarrassing things. Levi can go first.”

“Damn brat.” Levi frowned, “I’ve never left a room dirty.” I let out a sigh and Eren and I took a shot.

“Marco’s rooms like a bomb site.” Jean joked. I gave him a playful barge and we let out a laugh.

“I’ve never… been on a train.” Eren said and everyone except him took a shot.

“That’s because you’re broke all the time.” Levi rolled his eyes.

“The stuff I buy are needed for me to live so it’s cool.” Eren grinned.

“I’ve never…” I began. I knotted my eyebrows and blurted out something that suddenly popped in my head, “…Had sex.” Unsurprisingly, Mum took a shot but what did surprise me was that Armin, Annie, Eren, Levi and Krista took a shot. I was speechless.

“I’ve never kissed Mikasa.” Jean said. Eren was the only one who took a shot.

“We used to go out.” Eren pointed out so that Levi would stop glaring at him.

I’ve never pulled an all-nighter.” Annie stated. Everyone, but Krista, Annie and I, took a shot. 

“I’ve never kissed someone drunk.” Armin blushed. Both Jean and I blushed wildly as we took our shots with mum.

“Who’d you kiss?” Eren asked curiously to me.

“Jean.” I whispered. Even my ears felt like they were on fire.

We played the game for a while and soon we decided to play another game. Fip, sip or strip. The game was where every player takes turns flipping a coin and guesses if the coin will be heads or tails. If they guess right then they pass the coin but if they are wrong then they need to take off a piece of clothing or have a shot. You couldn’t chose the same option twice in a row. 

At that point we were all too drink to care. This time Jean started the game as he had a 2p in his pocket. He flipped it and caught it in one hand. “Heads.” Jean said and luckily he was correct. He passed it to Annie who also got it right. Armin got in wrong so he took a shot. The next person to get it wrong was Eren. Jean gave a small snort of laughter as Eren took a shot. “Next time you’ll have to strip.”

It was my turn and Eren handed me the coin. I flipped it. “Tails.” I said. My voice laced with uncertainty. I looked at the coin that showed heads. Because I didn’t want to take another shot yet, I took off my top. This was defiantly what you would never do when your mum and teachers were in the room. Normally you probably wouldn’t even be playing a drinking game with them but here I was.

After a while I found that I was down to my boxers. Mum had left with Krista because she didn’t want the girl to strip. Mikasa, Levi and Annie were still fully clothed however everyone else was topless. I was the only one who had the pleasure of sitting in my boxers. I glanced at Jean and our eyes met. Because I was so drunk, all my rational thinking was thrown out of the window. 

The game ended and after I put my clothes back on, I pulled Jean back to the bedroom and grabbed at his shirt. He gladly accepted my action and our lips gently pressed together. I felt a shock run down my spine and shuddered slightly. His lips against mine made me feel tingly and warm inside. I wrapped my arms around him and deepened the kiss. My brain was sending tiny jolts throughout my entire body and my lips felt hot. We kissed hungrily and I didn’t mind the fact that his breath tasted stale from the alcohol. We gave out sharp pants as we separated. Jean started to give sloppy kisses along my jaw and travelled down to my neck. I couldn’t stop myself from letting a moan roll out. The places he had kissed felt hot under my skin just like it was on fire. Jean looked up and smirked at me. He then pulled me even closer and our lips clashed together. I was lost in the moment and my head felt light. I couldn’t believe that this was happening.

I let my hands venture down Jean and they crept under Jean’s top. I could feel his slender muscles with my fingertips. Jean did the same to me. Everywhere he touched burned. My lips parted slightly. He took this as a chance and slipped his tongue into my mouth. It explored the roof of my mouth and brushed across my teeth. We pulled apart and a trail of saliva dripped down from my lips. We moved away from one another. I pulled Jean onto the bed. He sat up as a sat onto his lap. My desires were out of control and I couldn’t stop myself. We gazed passionately at each other and our lips clashed together. As we parted again to take some breaths, Jean’s hands travelled up my back and pulled off my red sweatshirt. I shuddered slightly with excitement. Jean began to unbutton my shirt and I helped him slide it off of me. His hands began to travel down my chest. A trail of heat followed them until my entire chest felt like it was on fire but it was a good feeling. “You are so fucking hot.” Jean muttered. I smiled widely.

“You’re beautiful too.” I caressed Jean’s cheek. “Can I?”

“Don’t ask you fucking idiot.” Jean blushed wildly, “Of course you can.” I let my hands travel further up his shirt and tossed it off swiftly. I let myself leave a trail of kisses to his neck and gave him some gentle pecks on his Adams apple. Jean let out a small moan. I sucked at his neck, leaving marks, and then looked back up at Jean. He was gorgeous. I pressed my lips against his with passion and wrapped my arms around his back. We laid on the bed. Jean’s hands were clutching handfuls of my hair. My heads toured down Jean’s slender back and to his belt. I pulled away.

“Are you sure?” I asked. I really wanted to go further but if Jean didn’t want to then I would gladly stop.

“Of course I’m fucking sure. Just do it before I get embarrassed.” Jean‘s cheeks were stained a shade of pink.

“You already are.” I giggled. My hands journeyed under Jean’s jeans and over the thin fabric of his boxers. I gave a slight squeeze and Jean moaned even louder.

“Fuck.” He hissed into my ear. His hand’s tightened and his nails dug into my scalp. I let my fingers slip under the soft fabric. Jean gave a quiver and moaned lightly again. “Marco.” He called my name.

“Yeah.” I replied softly.

“You can do it if you want.” Jean whispered. His voice ragged and his breath hot against my ear.

“You sure?” I questioned tenderly.

“Yeah.” Jean nodded, “Before I change my mind.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well done for finishing this chapter XD it was almost 10,000 words!!
> 
> The next chapter will come out sooner than this one and I'm so glad for all of the kudos and comments that you've done, they really make my day  
> Thank you again


	7. remembering

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter with character development from one of the characters! Who would have guessed :D  
> As always I only own the plot and nothing else  
> I hope you enjoy this chapter and thank you for all the kudos I never expected to get so many so soon  
> Here's the next chapter you've all been waiting for and I hope you enjoy it :)

My eyes fluttered open to the birds tweeting outside. My head was banging with pain. I couldn’t remember anything after we played ‘I’ve never’. I pulled myself out of the sheets that were wrapped around me and quickly got changed. It was freezing. I made my way downstairs to the others who were enjoying some cereal. I blacked out and I had done it at the other party as well. When Eren noticed me, he sent a smirk my way. I made my way over to him. “Do you remember anything from yesterday?” He asked.

“I remember up until we played the first game but that’s it.” I said after a few beats of silence.

“Horse-face said the same thing.” Eren pointed out, “He’s a bit pissed off because he can’t remember. I would tell him but I don’t know how he would react.” I tilted my head slightly in confusion. What had happened last night? “Well anyway, Armin wanted to tell you that he’s glad you came.”

“Where is he?”

“Still sleeping. He’s sleeping in the guest room because you and Jean crashed in my room.” Eren explained to me, “I don’t mind you staying in it but try and not do what you did again. Before you apologise, I know you were drunk so I forgive you.”

“Okay.” I answered after a few moments of silence. I was still a little confused of what had happened but decided not to ask. Eren let me make some toast and I ate it in the lounge. The people who had stayed over was Jean, Eren (because it was his home), Annie, Armin, Thomas and me. I took a bite out of the crunchy toast and stared at the TV that was playing ‘flog it’. An old man was trying to sell an antic vase and was giving a very disappointed face because the man he was talking to had just said that it would sell at £100 to £200.

“Good morning.” I mumble came from by the door. I turned and saw Armin make his way over and join me on the sofa.

“Good morning. You look exhausted.” I giggled.

“Yeah. I was talking to Annie and I didn’t realise that it was three in the morning and everyone, except us, were asleep.” Armin explained to me and then gave a wide yawn. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

“That sounds like fun. I’m guessing you two shared the bed.” I teased with a crooked smile.

“Y-yeah because there wasn’t any more room on the…” Armin’s words of panic seemed to fade away as I saw Jean walk in the room. He was wearing the clothes he had on yesterday and he had wild bed-head. I swore to myself that my stomach did a summersault. He looked stunning. I smile grow on my face as he sent a hand threw the mess of his blond hair. When Jean noticed me, he sent a huge grin my way and I couldn’t stop my smile from rising even more. He then made his way towards the kitchen and out of my line of vision.

“Marco?” Armin’s words shattered my trance as I came back into reality.

“What is it Armin?” I turned to face him with my cheeks a bit flustered.

“You weren’t listening were you?” Armin chuckled.

“S-sorry.” I stuttered.

“It’s fine. I could tell that you were distracted by someone.” Armin smiled softly. I felt my face go up in flames. “It’s okay.” He giggled, “We all get distracted by someone. It happened to me with Annie. She was in the bookstore and it clicked. She was the one.” I grinned.

“That’s really sweet.” I told him. Armin looked down at his lap and gave a nervous laugh.

“Thanks.”

We watch some more of the TV and talked about how stupid the auctions were being with pretty valuable stuff. I thought up an idea that we should find out what’s in my attic so that we could flog it and get some money.

I looked on my phone and found out that it was nine already. “Can you tell Jean that I’m going to need to set off soon? Got some work that I need to finish for drama.”

“Sure.” Armin smiled and we continued to watch the TV until it was time for me to leave.

 

I unlocked and opened the door, to the dorm, to be blasted by the song ‘dear future husband’ that was being played. Reiner was singing along like a pro and was breaking out into crazy dancing moves. Bertholdt was blushing like crazy and wiped his forehead to stop some sweat from rolling further down his face. “Come on Bertie!” Reiner grinned a big goofy smile, “Sing with me! This is my jam!” Reiner then proceeded to continue to sing the song and Bertholdt hunched a bit nervously then suddenly stood up and joined Reiner. “I knew you had it in you!” Reiner chuckled. I watched as Reiner twirled Bertholdt. “Dear future husband here’s a few things you need to know if you want to be my one and only all my life.” The two sang at the top of their voices with goofy grins on their faces. I closed the door quietly so that I wouldn’t interrupt them and made my way back down out of the dorms. 

I realised that his had been the first time of being away from Jean after spending a week with him. We spent that entire week together whenever we were free. Sometimes Jean would be marking work that other people handed in and I would be minding my own business so that I wouldn’t distract him. When he marked my work, Jean would treat me to something if I did really well. That happened a lot of the time… wait no it happened all the time when he marked my work. Maybe Jean was just being nice. I smiled to myself as I opened the door into the café that on the campus and got a hot chocolate. I sat at one of the empty tables, got out my notes from my English classroom and studied for a while.

When I finished, it was 3pm. I glanced out of the window after putting away my books. The first specks of snow were now falling. I gazed out to the cold of the outdoors as I viewed the snow drift down to the ground. It was probably going to pile up soon. I got up and wrapped my scarf back around my neck and pulled on my coat. I dropped the empty coffee mug in the bin and headed back to the dorms. The snow brushed against my cheeks and melted as soon as the flacks hit the warmth of my skin. I waved to Hitch (she waved back) then made my way back to the dorms. 

I unlocked the door for the second time this day and saw Connie, Sasha, Eren and Armin playing on just dance 57. “Hey Marco.” Connie grinned as he gave a spin. Soon after they finished the song, Armin came over.

“Eren told me not to ask you because he already did but I want to ask you something?” Armin’s eyes darted around the room.

“Sure, what is it?” I asked.

“Well I was just wondering what you remember about the party?” Armin ran a hand through his blond hair nervously. I looked up in concentration but all I could remember was that had happened. No matter how hard I tried, I could only remember up until the first game.

“Not after the first game.” I told Armin, “Did I do something?”

“You could say that.” Armin blushed slightly and I felt like I had paled slightly. “It isn’t bad. We all go like that when we get drunk.” Armin quickly added. I knew that Armin was trying to be helpful but all that I thought at that point was that I was never going to drink that much again.

I dropped onto my bed and pulled out my guitar. I couldn’t do any skateboarding because it was too cold and the snow was setting outside. 

After a few songs, I put the guitar away and decided to settle to sleeping for the rest of the day. I didn’t have the energy to change into my pyjamas so, after a few glasses of water, I just clambered under my blanket and fell fast asleep.

When I woke up it was the morning and the sun was shining through the shut curtains. I could hear the muffled voices of Reiner and Bertholdt from the lounge and the soft snores of Connie who was sleeping in his bed at the other side of the room. I snuggled up to my teddy and decided to sleep for a bit longer.

My eyes fluttered open and Connie was up as he wasn’t in his bed anymore. The boy was typing up something furiously on his laptop to his desk. He must be writing an essay. I rolled out of my bed. “Good morning.” I mumbled as I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes.

“More like afternoon.” Connie grinned then started doing his work again. I made my way into the bathroom and had a quick shower to wash off all the grime. I brushed my teeth and tamed my bedhead. My fridge was now pulled back. I need a haircut – I thought as I ran my hand through my hair.

After I was changed and all my work was done, it was time for lunch. Connie and I decided to go get something to eat together because he had been spending so much time with Sasha in the past and not enough time with everyone else. Reiner and Bertholdt tagged along.

We got fish and chips and ate them on the benches outside. I was wearing my coat and had a scarf wrapped around my neck to stay warm with a pair of toasty gloves but Connie was just wearing his coat. Just looking at him made me a bit cold. “I always love going to this chippie.” Reiner grinned after swallowing some of the battered fish he had gotten, “They make the best battered fish.”

“Yeah they do.” Bertholdt beamed, “Reiner showed me this place when we first came college here. I’m now sort of addicted to this.” Bertholdt rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

“They are really nice.” Connie grinned and soon gobbled down the hot fish and chips. I took some of the chips and ate them slowly, savouring the taste. It was amazing and was defiantly the best fish and chips I’ve ever had.

When we finished, Connie and Reiner were messing in the snow and having a snowball fight. I giggled when Connie dodged a snowball but fell backwards and straight into the snow. Bertholdt came back over after throwing the polystyrene plates and wooden forks in the bin. “I can’t believe we’ll be breaking up soon.” I beamed at Bertholdt. 

“Me neither.” The boy smiled back, “Are you doing anything special with Jean?”

“Well I’m going to a concert with him and my brother if that counts.” I giggled, “Are you doing anything with Reiner?”

“I’m going over to his for the holidays.” Bertholdt replied, “You can come over on new years. Reiner has been nagging me to ask you. He’s planning to throw a party then.”

“That sounds like fun.”

“You can invite Jean.” To this I felt my cheeks grow hot. Invite Jean.

“A-are you sure that’s okay?” I stuttered as I tried to stop my face from feeling so sizzling.

“Yeah it’s fine. Reiner wants him to come and he already hangs out with us in our group a lot so he’s one of our friends.” Bertholdt smiled sweetly, “He sort of reminds me of marcel.”

“He does?” I turned to face Bertholdt. He looked shocked of what he said and wiped some sweat that was rolling down his forehead.

“Yeah.” Bertholdt gave a nervous laugh.

“Can I ask who Marcel is?”

“Was.” Bertholdt corrected me, “He died.” It was my turn to be surprised.

“S-sorry.” I stuttered.

“It’s fine.” Bertholdt gave a soft smile, “I haven’t talked about him in a long time and I think now might be a good time to tell someone about him.” Bertholdt watched Reiner with a gloomy look in his eyes. “Marcel was a friend of Reiner and I. When he was driving his new car we got into a car crash with another car. Our car seemed to almost fly into the lake. When the ambulance came to get us… only Reiner and I survived.” Bertholdt took a deep breath, “Sorry for telling you all of this. It sounds pretty depressing.”

“No it’s fine. I might not understand what you’re feeling but I know that it wasn’t your fault.” I told Bertholdt. He gave a light smile.

“Thanks Marco. I knew I could talk to you.”

“It’s fine. You’re my friend so I’m here for you.”

“Thank you.” Bertholdt whispered softly. We watched Reiner and Connie carry on their snowball fight.

“What was Marcel like?” I asked after a while.

“He was just like Jean. He could be really stubborn but he had a really sweet heart. I guess you could say that’s how we get Jean at times. Marcel’s almost exactly like him. They sometimes seem so much alike sometimes that I could mistake Jean as him even if they don’t look the same.” 

“He seemed like someone with a big heart.”

“Yeah he did. Marcel had a crush on Annie. We all knew her when we were kids and Annie helped me and Reiner back onto our feet so we wouldn’t be here without her.” Bertholdt explained to me. At that point I felt like I knew more about them and that I had gotten closer to them. I smiled to myself. I decided to tell Bertholdt what I had told Jean but left out some details about Jean and James. I don’t think they would want to be talked about without their permission. “I’m sorry to hear.”

“It’s fine.” I beamed. Somehow now I didn’t feel like I was going to cry. It was like a weight was off my shoulders. “I think I’m able to handle it more than I used to.”

“Is it because Jean’s here?” Bertholdt asked.

“That’s probably it.” I said after giving a few moments of thought.

Reiner and Connie ran over. They were both covered in snow and were out of breath. “I’m freezing.” Reiner complained as his teeth chattered together. Connie nodded his head rapidly in agreement.

“We should better get going.” Bertholdt giggled, “You two should have a shower when we get back and we can have some hot chocolate when you’re ready.”

“I love your hot chocolate.” Reiner grinned as he gave Bertholdt a squeeze.

 

I gave a yawn as we walked down towards our dorms. I stopped to see Jean was talking to Hitch again. I didn’t want to but I couldn’t help the feeling that was growing in the pit of my stomach.

Jealousy.

“I’m going to go for a walk.” I excused myself.

“But we just got back.” Connie reasoned. 

“Just a bit. Just for some fresh air.”

“Okay but be back before it gets dark and so I can make you your hot chocolate.” Bertholdt said. Reiner nodded his head.

“If you’re not here by 7 I’ll go look for you.”

“I can just call you.” I giggled then parted ways with them. I walked through the snow and to one of the benches by the coffee shop. I exhaled a frosty breath.

“Hey Marco!” A voice called before I could do anything. I turned towards the sound of the voice to see Eren running over to me.

“Hi Eren.” I beamed as I waved at him. He waved back and joined me on the bench. “What are you doing over here?”

“I was looking for you.” Eren beamed.

“Me? How come?”

“Well I wanted to tell you something.”

“Come on don’t leave me hanging.” I joked.

“Okay, okay.” Eren chuckled, “Well it’s a message that Jean wanted to tell you and_”

“JEAGER GET BACK HERE!” A voice yelled and interrupted Eren from what he was telling me.

“Oh shit. See you later Marco.” Eren got up and sprinted off. A few moments later I saw Jean run over.

“Hey have you seen Eren?” Jean asked as he stopped to take a breather.

“Yeah he wanted to tell me something.” I decided to tell Jean the truth. I couldn’t lie to him.

“Did he tell you?!” Jean asked. Urgency etched in his voice and his eyes widened.

“No he didn’t.” I rose an eyebrow in confusion. Why was Jean being so anxious? “What did he want to tell me?” I asked.

“I-it’s nothing!” Jean stuttered as his entire face grew bright red. I tilted my head slightly.

“Okay.” I giggled.

“Marco I’m hurt.” Jean joked as he over exaggerated. This only made me laugh even more. I wiped the tears that had appeared from laughing too hard.

“Sorry.” I said through laughs. Jean pouted.

“You better be.”

“I am.” I bit my bottom lip so that I could stop the giggles that were threatening to escape. Jean gave me a playful nudge. I prodded him back. We both gave a chuckle then sat in silence. Jean was the one to break it.

“How much do you remember of the party?” Jean asked me sternly. I looked up in thought and rested my hand on my chin.

“Well… I remember up to the first game.”

“That’s the same as me. Do you think we should ask them? They’ve got to know something.”

“Yeah I agree with you. I asked them and I can tell they’re hiding something.”

“We should ask them together then they’ll have to answer.”

“Yeah. I’m sure we can persuade them.”

“Who should anything about persuading them?” Jean smirked as he flexed his arm.

“Jean!” I yelled. After a few beats of silence, we burst into laughter. 

 

We stood outside Eren’s door and Jean rang the doorbell. “Remember the plan.” Jean smirked. I nodded my head. Eren answered the door with a yawn. His hair was a mess. One look at Jean made the boy’s eyes widen in shock.

“Oh shit.” Eren turned to close the door but Jean wasn’t going to let this slide. He was behind Eren before he could go back inside.

“Eren I’ll let go what you were going to tell Marco if you tell me what we did at the party.” 

“Deal.” Eren smirked, “You two fucked hard and sorry to break this to you Jean but you were bottom. I’m going inside now. I’ve let Levi wait and I don’t want him to start the film without me.” Eren left us at a blushing state. Me… and… Jean… did it!?

Jean walked me back to the dorms in silence and we both had beet red faces. “W-well see you later.” Jean stuttered as he saw me off at the front door.

“Y-yeah.” I went into the dorms locked the door behind me.

“I was coming out to get you.” Reiner joked as he put down his shoes. I looked at the time on my phone.

“It’s only 6:59.” I giggled. Reiner was just like an over-protective parent sometimes but I get why he’s like that. 

“Better safe than sorry.” Reiner crossed his arms, “I stopped the film for you and it was getting good.”

“Hi Bertholdt.” I smiled. The boy was tucked in a blanket with a bowl of Ice-cream.

“Good evening Marco.” Bertholdt beamed, “Connie’s gone to meet Sasha to watch a film at the cinemas so he’ll be late.”

“Thanks.” I beamed. I made a beeline to my room and dropped onto my bed. I’ve never been so embarrassed and I can’t believe me and Jean had sex! I mean Jean doesn’t like me in that way… right? That doesn’t matter now it’s just the fact that Eren said it so bluntly. Well we got what we asked for but… I’m so embarrassed! Every time I look at Jean I’ll remember that I actually went all the way with him and I’ll get super nervous. Why did I let myself do that?! I groaned into my pillow. I shudder ran down my spine. 

“I’m such an idiot.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one wasn't as long as the last chapter and reading through past chapters and finding typos hurts my eyes DX  
> when I finish this story I'll probably go over it again and sort out all the mistakes in it  
> Thanks for reading this chapter next chapter will be out soon. Thank you again for all the kudos and comments and see you in the next chapter XD


	8. going places

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this chapter is sooo late!!  
> I was busy with a lot of coursework and didn't have enough time to update this chapter until now
> 
> as usual, the only thing that I own is the plot and I hope you enjoy this chapter

I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and gave a big stretch. I couldn’t get to sleep until early in the morning. My thoughts were full of Jean. I couldn’t get over the fact that him and I… maybe it was just a joke from Eren. I sent my hand through my knotty hair. What happened at the party before that too? I couldn’t have done anything worse than that… could I?

It had been a week since the incident and I hadn’t been able to look at Jean the same ever since. The worst was in lessons as I couldn’t concentrate at all. Every time I looked at him, my mind would wonder to what could have happened at the party.

Suddenly my phone began to play my new ring tone. I dropped off my bed in surprise and face-planted the floor. I got up and rubbed my nose gingerly. I answered the phone to find out that it was my mum. We talked about what had happened between when we last met and she (much to my embarrassment) laughed at what I told her about me and Jean and what happened at the party.

“I need to ask you for your help. I want to get Krista something for her birthday but I don’t know what to get her. You’re good at this sort of thing so what should I get her?” My mum asked.

“You should get her a Pandora bracelet to show how much you care for her.”

“Smart thinking freckles… Can you come with me to look at them?”

“Sure thing. I was planning to go to town to buy her something anyway.”

“What a surprise. I would have thought you would have bought something already. Was something on your mind?” Mum joked with a chuckle.

“Mum!” I huffed in ungainliness.

“Okay, okay. I already know anyway. I’ll see you in town at four and you better be there.”

“Okay. See you later.” I hung up the phone and let out a sigh. At least I was doing something to take my mind off of what had happened with me and Jean at the party. I had already done all my work so there was nothing else I needed to do.

When I had a shower and was ready to leave it was already half 3 because I didn’t wake up until the early times of the afternoon. It took twenty-five minutes to walk to town so I decided to set off now. I locked the door behind me and waved to Hitch before I left Sina dorms.

I made it to the meeting spot just in time as mum wasn’t there yet. After a while I saw her. I waved her over and we made our way down to the Pandora shop. The place was full of jewellery of many different colours. It was small inside and everything was very white and pure. We walked over to the desk and the lady, with long black hair in a bun and wide green eyes, gave us a booklet with all the products that we could buy. Mum bought a silver ‘Pandora moments charm bangle’ with the ‘angel wings pendant charm’ and a ‘fancy pink falling in love openwork charm’ (with the help of me and flicking through the booklet a few times). We both split the cost on the angel wings charm so mum insisted on buying the ‘words of love charm’ so that she could surprise Krista. We bought the gift and the lady placed it into a box that was put in a small bag. She gave the bag to us with the receipt and we left.

“Thanks kiddo.” Mum grinned.

“That cost a fortune.” I rolled my eyes.

“It’s worth it if you love them and I’m sure Krista will love it.” Mum nodded to herself. I turned to face her. She was looking at the bag with soft golden eyes. She must have been thinking about Krista so I just gave a small nod. We went to the card shop and bought two cards. We wrote in them, when we went into Costa to have a drink, and placed them carefully in the box. “I’ll give it to Krista because I’m meeting her for lunch on her birthday.”

“Okay.” I beamed. We waved our goodbyes and parted ways. I made my way through the park and sat down on one of the benches so I could have a moment to myself.

I had only been on the bench for a few moments when my phone decided that it was a smart time to receive a text message. I pulled my phone out of my pocket to see what it was.

From Eren:  
U comin to the party?

I looked at the text for a moment. I didn’t really know what he was talking about so I decided to send a text back.

To Eren:  
What party?

Before I could even put my phone down after sending the text, it went off.

From Eren:  
Levi’s bday party on 24th Dec (his bday’s the day after). U comin? U can meet me at mine at half 6 and help carry the booze

To Eren:  
Sure I’ll be there. I don’t mind helping you out with the drinks

I sent my reply and put my phone back in my pocket. By the time I had gotten back to the dorm and sat on the sofa, my phone had gone off again.

From Eren:  
Horse-face is coming

I stared at the text for a while. Jean was coming. I don’t mind it’s just I don’t know how to face him at the moment. I know I’m going to see him when he’s teaching but this is a party and the last party we went to we slept together! What could happen at this one?! I rolled off the sofa. I suddenly remembered the concert and how Jean, James and I were going to. I would be with Jean sooner than I expected. This sucks.

 

A few days after, I was walking back from my lesson when Connie ran over to me. “Hey Marco!” He yelled. He was so load that I almost jumped out of my skin.

“Hi Connie.” I smiled as he grinned at me.

“It’s Krista’s birthday today. What did you get her?” Connie asked. He fiddled with the straps on his rucksack that seemed to be packed with notebooks and other essential things for class.

“I helped my mum with her gift so we split the cost on a Pandora bracelet.” I explained to him, “What did you get her?”

“Nothing special. Just some music tracks she was after. Me and Sasha split the cost too. Are you ready for the play in a few weeks?” Connie smirked. The play was on the 18th of December (which was also the last day of college for the winter holidays) so that meant that practice was becoming a more frequent thing and it was more intense. I was playing the role of Benvolio so I didn’t need to practise as much as Sasha and Connie because they were acting out the main roles. 

“I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.” I giggled. We made our way along the path towards our dorm room, “When did you give the music tracks to her?” I asked him politely.

“Oh, I saw her a while ago and I had them so I gave them to her then.”

“Okay.” I smiled, “It’s just that my mum’s going to have lunch with her today.”

“Those two are defiantly a couple. They spend too much time together to not be a couple.” Connie’s eyebrows drew closer together as he was deep in thought.

“Like you and Sasha.” I giggled as Connie’s cheeks changed to a light pink. “You two are going out, right?”

“Of course we are. We’re not keeping it hidden or anything.” Connie chuckled, “I can’t believe you hadn’t asked sooner. Reiner pointed it out ages ago.”

“You two make a cute couple.” I smiled lightly, “And it’s not my fault that I didn’t say anything until now.” I pouted as I pretended to overreact. Connie laughed even louder.

“I know. You had your mind on someone else and I have an idea on who that is.”

“Who?!” My eyes widened as I came to a sudden halt. Connie smirked widely. He sort of reminded me of the Cheshire cat from Alice in wonderland - I used to watch it when I was little a lot because it was my favourite film.

“Jean of course. He’s so dense because Eren realised and he still hasn’t. You two should get together.”

“I don’t think he likes me that way.” I smiled sheepishly.

“What?! You’re as dense as Jean!” Connie yelled in surprise. I tilted my head in confusion and repeated the words in my head. I’m as dense as Jean? What did Connie mean by that?

“Am I?” I giggled, “Jean said he used to like Mikasa and he probably still likes her. I mean he still talks about her a lot.”

“You are such an idiot Marco. Seriously, can’t you see the way he looks at you?” Connie let out a sigh and shook his head.

“I-I’m not an idiot.” I stuttered and pouted.

“Anyway, the play’s soon so there’s going to be more practice.” Connie changed the topic and I gladly accepted it.

“Good luck on it.” I giggled.

“You get to play Benvolio. You should have gotten my role. I mean you’re a great actor.”

“Thanks.” I smiled bashfully and rubbed the back of my head, “But you defiantly deserve that role. You were amazing up there. So much better than me.”

“You sure. Thanks man.” Connie grinned and laughed wholeheartedly, “I’m pretty excited to be perfectly honest.”

“Yeah because you get to be lovie-dovie with Sasha.” I winked with a smirk.

“Hey!” Connie blushed, “But yeah that’s partly the reason.”

“I knew it.” I beamed and Connie lightly pushed me.

“That’s it. I’m getting Jean to watch the performance.” Connie teased.

“Fine. He’ll be blown away by how well you act.”

“Don’t you mean that he’ll be blown away by your acting?” Connie nudged me playfully.

 

When we made it to the dorm, I quickly changed into my pyjamas. Reiner and Bertholdt were snuggled together on the sofa while watching a rerun of ‘friends’. It was an episode that we had seen about a hundred times already but it was Bertholdt’s favourite episode so Reiner didn’t mind watching it a lot. Connie and I joined them on the sofa and after we shared two large pizzas and decided to settle to watching ‘dirty dancing’.

It was 9 when someone nocked at the door. “I’ll get it.” Connie grinned and jumped off the sofa. He opened the door to Jean. I realised that I had hidden myself underneath the blanket so that he wouldn’t notice me. “Is Marco here?”

“Sorry Jean. He’s not here.” Connie said after a few beats of silence. I almost jumped out of the blanket in surprise. Connie knew I was here so why was he saying that I wasn’t? 

“That’s fine. I can tell him some other time.” Jean sounded a bit annoyed and I couldn’t help but feel a little guilty.

“Okay see you around. When are you going to bring more of your cooking in?” Connie teased.

“Not sure and I’m not cooking just to feed you ya know. Ask your mum for that or just buy some food. Bye.” Jean scowled and the door closed.

“Marco you can come out now.” Bertholdt peeled off the blanket from me, “Why were you hiding?”

“Well me and Jean…” My words trailed to a mutter as I felt like my cheeks were burning.

“Oh I get it.” Reiner chuckled loudly, “You and Jean had sex!”

“Don’t say it so loudly!” I squeaked with embarrassment. Why did Reiner have to be so blunt about everything sometimes?

“So I was right.” Reiner grinned. I burrowed my head into the pillow that I had been clinging to.

“Reiner’s just teasing you.” I could tell that Bertholdt was trying to cheer me up but it wasn’t helping as well as it should have done.

“I’m going to bed.” I mumbled, “Just a little sleepy.”

“Before you go to bed, are you avoiding Jean?” Reiner asked me.

“N-no.” I stuttered, “Well I don’t know how to talk to him now that…”

“You had sex with him.” Reiner finished the sentence. I felt my blush come back in full bloom. “Well it does make sense but you’ll have to face him soon with the party and such.”

“Yeah I know.” I murmured quietly, “It’s just super embarrassing.”

“I know the feeling but you’ll be able to get there in the end. I mean that’s how me and Bertholdt started out and look at where we are now.”

“A couple who fuck a lot.” Connie smirked.

“Exactly and it’s not fucking. It’s making love.” Reiner chuckled. Bertholdt’s entire face was bright red and seemed to slide further into the blanket. I rolled my eyes and went to bed. I closed my eyes and let sleep take me over.

 

When I woke up, I was alone in the room. I rolled out of my bed and pulled out my laptop from underneath the bed. I pressed the button to turn it on and plugged in my black headphones. I pressed play to the playlist that I had on ‘dirty dancing’ and started with my work that I had gotten from Armin.

After a few minutes I began to hum out my favourite song and, without realising, began soon began to sing. “I’ve had the time of my life.” I sang with spirit as I pulled my laptop off my lap, “And I’ve never felt this way before.” 

Soon enough I was fully immersed in the song and didn’t realise when a certain person opened the door to the room. I looked up to see…

Jean.

My cheeks burst into a deep shade of red as I came to a stop. I hit the pause button on the song and pulled off the headphones. Jean gazed at me in, what seemed to be, amazement. “Marco you’re singing is amazing.” He grinned, “I didn’t know you could sing so well.”

“T-thanks.” I stuttered as I saved my work, turned off my laptop and put everything back to where they were originally which was spread across the floor.

“I just came to talk to you. You weren’t here yesterday so I came to see if you were here now. Reiner let me in.” Jean explained as he made his way around the loose files that covered the carpet on my side of the room. He sat on the bed next to me.

“O-Oh. What did you want to talk about?” I asked, trying my hardest not to act so nervous. I sent a hand through my bed-head.

“Well I wanted to ask how you thought about the party. I mean now I know why my ass hurt when I woke up and how my hips hurt when I got up.” Jean laughed dryly. I could tell that he was trying his hardest to talk to me but all I did was stare down at my bed sheets in humiliation. I held back a sigh as I bit my bottom lip. I took a deep breath.

“I-I’m sorry. I know that it’s weird that we had… sex. And you probably think that I’m crazy.” My voice was quitter than I expected as the words came out of my mouth. There was a lump in my throat and it felt like there was a hole in my gut. I scrunched my eyes and braced for the worst.

“No!” Jean yelled and let out a deep sigh, “I’m here to tell you that I understand that we were both drunk off our fucking asses so these things happen. I’m ready to start over and turn over a new leaf.” My head shot up and my eyes widened in astonishment.

“So you were not here to say that you didn’t want to be friends anymore.” The words trailed out of my mouth.

“You dummy.” Jean chuckled softly, “I’ll always want you to be my pal.”

“You… you really mean it?”

“Of course I fucking do.” Jean scratched the back of his neck and, after a moment or two, pulled me into a hug. “Always.” I couldn’t help the big grin from growing across my face. I was smiling so much that it hurt but I didn’t care. 

“Thank you.” I mumbled as I buried my head into Jean’s neck and breathed in. This is bliss – I thought to myself as I closed my eyes.

 

I must have fallen asleep because when I opened my eyes Jean and I were laying down on my bed with our legs tangled together and our arm’s wrapped around one another. I carefully got out of his grasp and quickly got ready for the rest of the day. Jean was lightly snoring when I came over to him. I smiled lovingly at him and planted a kiss on his forehead. 

When I realised what I’d done, my cheeks felt like they were on fire and I quickly went into the mini kitchen to distract myself. I looked around to see what I could do to keep my mind off things. Being in love is hard – I thought with a sigh as I reached into the cupboard and got out a packet of ready salted walkers and dropped on the sofa. Reiner had gone so Jean and I were alone. 

I turned on the TV but I wasn’t truly watching the show that was on. I glanced up at the clock to see that it was half six. We had been sleeping for five hours! I opened the packet of crisps, took one out and ate it whole. It gave a load crunch and the strong taste of salt covered my tongue.

Jean came into the room and sat next to me on the sofa. “Want one?” I asked with a smile. I’m glad that everything is resolved, even though I still can’t stop the fluttering in my heart when I look at him.

“Yeah sure.” Jean grinned and took a handful instead.

“I said one, not a handful.” I giggled and tried (and failed) to sound offended. Jean just chuckled and scuffled down the crisps.

“I like ready salted but I think that cheese and onion flavoured crisps are the best flavour.” Jean told me as he nodded his head in thought.

“I’m not so keen on cheese and onion crisps.” I scrunched the back of my neck sheepishly.

“What?!” Jean shrieked. I jumped slightly in surprise.

“It’s not that hard to believe.” I laughed softly, “You don’t like pineapples.” When I said the last sentence, jean scrunched up his nose and stuck his tongue out.

“You are forgiven.” Jean smirked, “But only this once.”

We talked for a long time and soon Jean left. Reiner and Bertholdt came back soon after. We watched ‘mean girls’ with some pizza and Reiner did a running commentary all the way through. He made me laugh when he pointed out the flaws in the film.

 

The few weeks passed by in a flash and it was time for the performance. Reiner, Bertholdt, Connie and I all met up with Sasha and Krista. We made our way to the gym hall and I bumped into Jean. “Good luck.” Jean grinned.

“We’ll do our best.” Connie smirked and we made our way into the changing room. My nerves were acting up as my palms were getting sweaty, my heart was sky rocketing and I felt a little light-headed.

“You’ll be fine.” Bertholdt smiled at me lightly, “Just do it as how you practiced.” I nodded my head and took a deep breath to calm my nerves. My heart rate lowered slightly. I smiled gratefully at Bertholdt.

Krista called me over and helped me with my costume and helped us to all get ready. Sasha was jumping about excitedly and soon jumped straight into Connie’s arms. The boy almost fell backwards from the stern force of Sasha. I held back my giggle. “Come on you dingoes we have a play to do.” Connie smirked, “We’ll not their socks off.”

“Yeah.” Sasha grinned, “We’ll give them the best performance of Romeo and Juliet they have ever seen.”

“It’s time to get on with the play. Curtains will be up soon.” Reiner told us.

 

When the play ended we all went onto the stage again and took a cheer. Everyone clapped and I glanced at Jean who was grinning widely and was clapping with everyone. We all went backstage. We all did really well and no one messed up. Sasha and Connie were amazing and I couldn’t help but watch them in amazement when I was backstage. “You were the best Benvolio.” Connie hit me on the back playfully.

“Thanks. You were amazing too.” I beamed.

“You know it.” Connie grinned.

“You were finally able to kiss Sasha while being in your character. Bet it was all the time you spent together.”

“Hey!” Connie blushed slightly, “But yeah that might have been it.” He admitted.

“I knew it!” Reiner yelled. The both of us turned to face him. “I knew you and Sasha were dating.”

“Reiner you’re so slow. They’ve been dating for a few weeks now.” I giggled.

“Really? Well good on you man.” Reiner grinned and then went over to Bertholdt who was talking to Krista. I girl with long black hair came over and congratulated us on our performance and that we could have the rest of the day off. We only had tomorrow left of college and then it was the holidays. This year was passing by quickly.

I went over to Jean who was leaning against the wall by the exit. I smiled to myself. “Well done on your performance.” Jean muttered with his eyebrows furrowed. I held back my laugh me a snort.

“Thanks Jean.” I smiled widely. Jean’s cheeks became tinted with a light shade of pink as he turned to look away from me. Before I could ask him anything, Connie and the others came running over. Jean gave a tsk in annoyance. I wonder if he wanted to say something too – I thought to myself.

“We are all going to get some pizza in celebration!” Connie grinned.

“Can we get something different? I don’t think I can handle anymore pizza.” Reiner said dramatically.

“Well we could go to the new steak house that opened up or we could just get a Chinese.” Bertholdt told us.

After a few minutes we made up our minds to go to the steak house called ‘outback steakhouse’ as this was a celebration for the play we did and we wouldn’t normally go here. Jean came along with us.

When we got there we were taken to one of the free tables and the waiter gave us our menu’s and went off to do their next task. I glanced at what was on the menu and decided on the ‘Parmesan-Herb Crusted Chicken’. Connie got the same as me and Jean got the ‘Outback Special Sirloin’ and a ‘Double Burger’. Sasha got the ‘Sirloin and Grilled Shrimp’ and a potato while Krista got the ‘Crab Topped Tilapia. Bertholdt got the ‘Steakhouse Salad’ and Reiner got the ‘Wood-Grilled California Chicken Sandwich’. We all got the ‘Alice Springs Chicken Quesadillas’ for a starter.

After we ordered we talked, about the play and Connie joked about how he almost messed up one of his lines, until our food came. When the food did come (our starter) it smelled amazing. We all got three slices each due to the size being huge. I took a bit out of mine and it tasted amazing. “What do you think about it?” I asked Jean who had just finished wolfing down his first slice.

“Not bad but I’m better.” Jean remarked then began to eat his next slice happily. I gave a soft giggle and continued to eat my slice. I glanced at Sasha who seemed to be enjoying it so much that she had the goofiest expression on her face. Jean and Sasha were the quickest to finish while me and Krista were the slowest. I just wanted to savour the taste of the food for as long as I could. I hadn’t had Quesadilla’s in a long time so I wanted it to last.

Soon enough the main course came when we had finished and when the waiter took the dirty plates away to be cleaned.

It looked amazing. I took a bite out of mine and immediately knew that I liked it. Connie and Sasha were sharing theirs and Jean was scoffing down his steak. “Do you want to try some of mine?” Jean asked with a smirk when he noticed me looking at him. “I’ll give you some if you give me some of yours.”

“Okay.” I giggled. Jean took a bit from mine while I took a bit from his steak. We took a bite together. I loved it. I smile grew across my face. It tasted as good as the chicken. “Thank you.”

“It’s fine.” Jean said then began to eat his burger. He took a bite from the burger and some of the source were on his cheek. I gave a light laugh. Jean turned to face me and gave me a look that asked me to tell him why I laughed. I pointed out that there was sauce on his face and he couldn’t seem to get it so I wiped it off for me. I chuckled when Jean’s eyes widened and a light blush grow across his cheeks. He can be so cute sometimes – I thought as I smiled to myself.

I gazed over at Reiner to see a big smirk on his face. He looked like he knew exactly what I was thinking. I tried to hold back the blush back. I glanced at Krista who was letting Sasha have some of her food since she had finished everything on her plate. I stared at her with wide eyes. How did she eat all of that so fast?!

When we finished we shared the ‘Sweet Adventure Sampler Trio’ and Krista got the carrot cake. She had half of it and saved the rest for mum because she was going to see her later today.

Soon we finished the food and I felt super stuffed. “I’ve never eaten that much in my life.” Reiner chuckled, “I could eat more though because it was so good.”

“You haven’t tried my cooking yet.” Jean smirked as his chestnut eyes glistened with pride.

 

We parted ways with everyone after we paid the bills. Bertholdt, Reiner, Connie and I ventured our way through the cold of the day. Even though the sun shined and I was wrapped up head to toe; it was freezing. It felt like it was minus 1000 but in all reality it was probably just minus 2.

Finally we made it to the warmth of the dorm rooms and I quickly removed my coat, hat and scarf so that I didn’t melt from all the heat. My fingers felt tingly from the sudden change of temperate. Bertholdt made us all hot chocolate and we sat down to relax. We had no work to do so we all talked about random things that had happened.

“Have you heard about the party that Levi is throwing?” Reiner asked after he took a sip of his coco.

“Yeah.” I beamed, “I’m invited. Are you guys going?”

“You bet.” Reiner grinned and his eyes crinkled in excitement. “Levi throws the best parties. If you haven’t been to one of his parties then you haven’t lived. It’s almost as if the entire college goes because there is so many people. That kid must have some pretty cool connections.”

“It’s good we’re friends with him then.” Connie beamed. He was just as enthusiastic as Reiner. Bertholdt just nodded his head but I could tell that he was trying to hold back how excited he really felt.

It was almost midnight when we all went to bed. I snuggled under my covers and fell asleep with dreams about the party and dancing with Jean. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t thrilled to go.

 

The next day we packed our bags and promised to meet each other in the holidays if we could. I had to make a lot of rounds to get everything in the boot. I bought a cup of coffee, with about ten sashays of sugar, from the café on the campus and began the long journey home.

When I gotten in the drive of my home, I had gotten a text. I pulled out my phone to see what is was.

From Jean:  
Have a good holiday

I gave a light giggle as I typed out my reply.

To Jean:  
You too : )

I put my phone back in my pocket just as my mum came outside to greet me. She helped me get everything in my room. “Welcome back kiddo.” Ymir chuckled, “Well done with your play. Krista gave me a tape of it and it was amazing. Should be a bit gorier if you ask me though.”

“Mum, it’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ not one of your horror films.” I giggled as I put down the last bag in my room.

“Just messing with you.” Mum smirked, “I’m making pasta for tea.” Mum made her way out of my room. I went to James’ room and knocked on the door before going in. It was any gamers dream room. It was full of the latest technology but if anyone knew my brother more than me then they would know that he doesn’t use them most of the time. When I came in this time he was playing persona 5 on the PlayStation. At the moment he was in one of the many dungeons and was fighting one of the opponents. 

“Hey bro.” James said as he paused the game and took off his headphones, “You excited for the concert?”

“You bet I am.” I grinned, “It’s in two days.”

“Yeah and don’t forget that Jean’s coming too.” James stuck his tongue out at me.

“I haven’t.” I rolled my eyes with a small smile.

“You excited to see him again?” James asked as he tilted his head slightly. I giggled lightly.

“Maybe.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading and I'll try and post more as soon as I can


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